Online Retail Growth Is Slowing

• Posted: Friday, June 06, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Online Services

Economic woes online, too?

Although consumers are reacting to the economic downturn by spending less, this will create more of a hardship for retail stores than for online retail outlets.

"Store sales will be hit harder than Internet sales because affluent shoppers, who form the core of online buyers, tend to ride out economic downturns better than lower- and middle-income consumers," says Jeff Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, US Retail E-Commerce: Slower But Still Steady Growth.

eMarketer estimates that US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will reach $146 billion in 2008, up 14.3% over 2007. "Still," warns Mr. Grau, "over the next few years online sales growth rates will steadily decline."

There is little reason for panic, however.

"A drop in the number of new online buyers is an inevitable sign of the maturation of the online retail channel," says Mr. Grau.

Read more - eMarketer

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