New York-based eMarketer’s U.S. Holiday Shopping report projects that 58.7 million consumers will spend $10.7 billion online during the holiday shopping season. The research company estimates that U.S. residents shopping online will spend an average of $182.25. There will be 14.1 million more people shopping online in Q4, 4.9 million of which will be shopping online for the first time. EMarketer says more people will shop online as consumers perceive online shopping as more convenient and safer than mall shopping. And many consumers will shop online instead of traveling to deliver gifts. The report notes that the deteriorating economy will harm online sales, unlike other years in which online spending did not reflect general retail spending.
EMarketer also points out that its projection is one of many, with nine research firms offering different sales projection figures ranging from $9.5 billion to $12.4 billion. Emarketer’s study is based on a purchasing model aggregating data from dozens of sources. Additionally, the research firm is benchmarking its projections against the quarterly assessments of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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