According to a revised eMarketer forecast, U.S. retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel, digital downloads, and event tickets) will grow by 12.7 percent in 2010 to $152.1 billion. eMarketer estimates that in 2014 online sales will reach $233.9 billion, with a growth rate of 8.2 percent due to “maturation of the online sales channel.” The revised forecast follows the U.S. Census Bureau’s recent news that online sales in Q4 2009 grew 14.6 percent compared to a year earlier, the biggest gain in eight quarters.
The eMarketer report also estimates that online retail and online travel sales will total $244.6 billion in 2010 and grow at a 9 percent compound annual rate from 2009 to 2014. According to the report, 162 million Americans will research products online. More than 82 percent of online researchers (133 million people) will be online buyers.
