Request a free quarterly subscription to the most popular print magazine on Web success, or sign up for a 12 issue professional subscription and receive a free copy of Website Magazine's new book Affiliate 360 - The Fundamentals of Performance Marketing! Learn more...
A new report from the US Census Bureau reveals retail e-commerce (excluding travel) Q4 earnings reached $27.08 billion, up from $21.52 billion in 2004. Retail e-commerce accounted for 3.3% in total retail sales in Q4 of 2006, up from 2.7$ in Q4 2005.
EMarketer's Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst and e-commerce specialist said, "Retail e-commerce sales for Q4 2006 exceeded expectations by increasing 25% over the same quarter a year ago. This is the biggest jump in Q4 sales since 2002 and is additional evidence that the Internet channel is stealing sales away from retail stores."
Total e-commerce sales for 2006 were estimated at $108.7 billion. Of that, e-commerce accounted for 2.8% of the total, up from 2.4% in 2005.
Now that almost all smart phones have access to the internet, many people are buying things online and on the go. This may explain why there is always an increase in e-commerce sales, whether in good times or bad times. Retail stores have to buck up if they do not want to get left behind.