Double digits growth forecasted for Online Retail Sales

Online sales are projected to hit more than US$200 billion in 2006 as compared to US$176.4 billion in 2005, an increase of almost 20%.

• Travel is the largest type of product bought online (almost 1/3 of all online purchases).
• No. 2 is buying computer hardware and software online.
• Buying autos and auto parts online is No. 3

The main reason for this rising retail sales online is because consumers are becoming more comfortable with using the Internet which has been a hurdle for online retails sales in the past.

At the same time, retailers are trying to integrating their stores with more access to the web by having in-store kiosks that let customers order online if they don't find the right product in the store.

Don't miss out this interesting development by reading this article.

This article is related to Lecture 6 and 8.