Consumer online spending holds steady at $4 billion in August
Online shopping stayed even in August from July, Forrester Research Inc. reports. According to the Forrester Online Retail Index, conducted in conjunction with Greenfield Online, total US spending online increased from $3.98 billion in July to slightly over $4 billion in August. That number is even with last year’s August number. The July number was the same as last July’s number. The number of households shopping online increased to 14.8 million in August, from 14.7 million in July. Consumers spent an average of $273 per person in August, compared with $270 in July, the report says.
The total spending number includes $1.38 billion in spending for online travel arrangements vs. $1.36 billion in August last year. Not counting travel spending, online retail spending actually declined in August from a year earlier: $2.66 billion in August 2001 vs. $2.86 billion in August. Online retail spending in July reached $2.6 billion.
Online retail sales were able to sustain the growth its experienced from June to July. June’s retail figure was $2.2 billion; all online spending (including travel) was $3.2 billion in June.
"It`s impressive that online shopping made such a quick comeback after the big drop in June," said Christopher M. Kelley, analyst at Forrester.
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