Online Retail Still Crazy Hot

Online retail sales in the Christmas season beat even the most optimistic expectations (see story ). January figures now indicate 2006 is continuing at the same rapid pace. Based on figures from comScore, online non-travel retail sales were up 33 percent over 2005 revenues in the same period. Some of the fastest growing retail categories included:
- Event tickets...up 50 percent over 2005
- Consumer electronics...up 43 percent
- Sports and Fitness...up 41 percent
- Apparel and Accessories...up 38%

This hypergrowth may appear difficult for some economists and prognosticators to comprehend, but it seems almost expected when you see the fundamental shifts taking place in people’s media of choice. A on a just-released Jupiter Research study reveals time spent online is now equal to the time spent watching TV among Internet users.

The Jupiter study polled 3000 people. It found, on average, respondents spent 14 hours on the Web, 14 hours on TV, five hours with radio, two hours with newspapers and about an hour with magazines. On a disturbing note, the “media” that had lost out the most because of increased time on the Internet was books with time spent in that category down 37 percent.

Based on what we are seeing with the growth of online retail sales, it is obvious that some of the increasing time spent on the Web is devoted to shopping and buying via the Internet.