Online sales will reach $118 billion in 2006, Jupiter says

Researcher Jupiter Media Metrix has revised its projections for online sales, but still sees strong growth, the company said today. Online sales this year will reach $34 billion, revised down from earlier expectations of $36 billion, and will hit $104 billion in 2005, down from the earlier expected $$118 billion. "The doom and gloom over the state of online retailing has been greatly exaggerated," Heather Dougherty, Jupiter analyst, told the Jupiter Media Metrix Retailing Forum. "While short-term market factors have slowed the pace and shifted the playing field toward multi-channel retailers, the long-term outlook is still positive. Retailers and their constituents must not lose sight of the fact that the online purchasing population continues to grow and their comfort with the channel continues to increase."

Other data from Jupiter:
* 52% of the online population will be making retail purchases online by 2002 and 63% in 2006, up from 40% in 2000.
* Most U.S. online buyers are not hesitant to register and give out personal information to retailers: 70% register to receive e-mail for new products/special offers; 68% register prior to making a purchase; 50% register to store personal information on the site; and 41% register to receive physical mail.
* E-mail marketing resonates well with online buyers: 85% of online buyers say they are very or somewhat more likely to return to a site after receiving an e-mail message from a retailer.
* Jupiter analysts point out that among the top 50 retail sites, ranked according to unique visitors in the Media Metrix ratings reports, brick-and-mortar retailers outnumber Internet-only retailers. Of the top retail sites in March, 56% were brick-and-mortar retailers, while 44% were Internet-only retailers. The reverse was true for March 2000: Internet-only retailers dominated the top 50 retail sites at 62%. By September 2000, the number of Internet-only retailers and brick-and-mortar retailers in the top 50 was even.