Jupiter Research Predicts Retail Ecommerce Will Increase 24% This Year

Updated on Tuesday, January 20th, 2004 at 12:00 am

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Jupiter Research Predicts Retail Ecommerce Will Increase 24% This Year

New York, NY - January 20, 2004 — Jupiter Research, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), today announced it forecasts that U.S. online retail sales will reach $65 billion in 2004, and will continue to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 17% through 2008 to top $117 billion. Though still a relatively small component of overall U.S. retail sales, 5% by 2008, the influence of online retail goes far beyond the confines of the Web. Consumers continue to research purchases online before buying in store. In fact, Jupiter Research’s forecast projects that by 2008, nearly 30% of offline retail purchases will be influenced by research performed online.

These findings were released in Jupiter Research’s new report "Market Forecast: U.S. Retail 2004-2008". The online retail growth is fueled by two main factors: new online buyers and increased average spending per buyer. As Internet usage matures and the online population reaches saturation, the growth in new consumers choosing to buy online will gradually slow and reach a penetration of 67% of all online users by 2008. However, through 2008, average spending per buyer growth shows steady increases and will be close to $780 per buyer by 2008. "Consumers will continue to embrace the convenience of shopping online over the next five years," noted Jupiter Research Analyst Patti Freeman Evans.

Not all retail categories will grow at the same rate. Jupiter Research’s forecast groups retail categories in three growth modes: Plateau, Steep and Steady. Categories in the Plateau group will experience compound annual growth rates of below 10% and include early success areas like PC’s, books and software. Areas of steep growth (above 30% CAGR) are found primarily in the home and personal care categories like home improvement, grocery and over the counter drugs. The remaining categories comprise half of total online retail sales and include heavy volume players such as apparel and consumer electronics.

The complete findings of this report are immediately available to Jupiter Research clients online. For more information on the report or Jupiter Research’s Retail research service please contact Kieran Kelly at researchsales@jupitermedia.com or call 1-800-481-1212.

About Jupitermedia Corporation

Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), (www.jupitermedia.com) headquartered in Darien, CT, is a leading provider of global real-time news, information, research and media resources for information technology, Internet industry and graphics professionals. Jupiterweb, the online division of Jupitermedia, operates five distinct online networks: internet.com and EarthWeb.com for IT professionals; DevX.com for developers; ClickZ.com for interactive marketers; and ArtToday.com for graphics professionals. Jupiterweb properties include more than 150 Web sites and nearly 150 e-mail newsletters that are viewed by over 20 million users and generate over 275 million page views monthly. Jupitermedia also includes Jupiter Research, a leading international research advisory organization specializing in business and technology market research in 18 business areas and 14 vertical markets. In addition, Jupiter Events produces offline conferences and trade shows focused on IT and business-specific topics, including Wi-Fi Planet, Search Engine Strategies and Internet Planet.