Slowing electronic sales will still show strong gains this year, NRF says
Electronic shopping, including online and telephone catalog sales, will show double-digit year-to-year percentage gains for the holiday season and all of 2006, even though sales have slowed since rising 16.3% in the first quarter, the National Retail Federation says in its fall Retail Sales Outlook. Total retail sales excluding autos rose 7% through August, the NRF adds.
Q2 electronic sales rose 12.8% year-over-year, and Q3 sales are expected to come in at a lower rate of growth, though still at 10% or more, the NRF says. Despite the slowdown, electronic sales have benefited from consumers cutting back on trips to stores to save on gasoline costs, it adds.
In the fourth quarter, sales of soft goods including apparel and some home furnishings can be expected to do better than sales of big-ticket hard goods like cars and furniture, the NRF says. Other items that will do well include consumer electronics and sporting goods, it adds.
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