Online Consumer Spending To Drop In 2009
By Anna Johnson on September 1st, 2009Internet research firm, eMarketer, has revised downward its forecast of United States retail ecommerce sales in 2009. Following poor sales growth in the first half of the year, eMarketer now expects retail ecommerce sales, excluding travel, to decline by 3.1 percent this year.
eMarketer had originally expected flat growth for retail ecommerce based on a decline during the first six months and a recovery in the second half. It has now revised its projections based on August figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The U.S. Department of Commerce found that sales decreased by more than expected in Q2, to be 4.5 percent lower year-on-year at $30.77 billion.
It’s not all bad news. eMarketer expects growth to resume in 2010, at 5.5 percent, as the economy moves out of recession. Then growth is expect to accelerate in 2011, followed by continued (slower) growth in 2012 and 2013.
