Study: E-tailers to grab $330 billion in 2010
Retailers are warming up to the Web, Forrester Research finds. Will online sales double in five years?
The 14 percent compound annual growth will be fueled by a shift in businesses' approach toward the Web. Retailers now view the Net as a tool to improve customer service and retention rather than as a low-cost sales channel, Forrester said.
"Businesses are debating their online strategy. Many believe they became too focused on sales. Now they're looking at their Web sites as a way to drive in-store traffic and increase their engagement with customers," Forrester researcher Carrie Johnson said in a statement.
As part of the attempt to refurbish its image, San Francisco-based clothing giant The Gap is currently redesigning its Web site to offer an easier checkout process. Meanwhile, Cambridge, Mass., start-up Allurent is targeting online retailers that want to enable consumers to easily revise an order at any stage of checkout within a single online form.
Travel will continue to remain the top category, with revenue climbing to $119 billion in 2010, almost a 90 percent increase over $63 billion grossed in 2005. Revenue from online sales of general merchandise in 2005 will cross $100 billion, the data researcher said.
Categories expected to see a gain in the coming years include health and beauty products--predicted to grow at an annual rate of 22 percent--and small appliances. That category should see 29 percent of its sales move online by the end of the decade, as today's Internet-saturated youth begin to get married and attend weddings, Forrester predicted.