According to the “US Cross-Channel Retail Forecast, 2012 To 2017” report by Forrester Research, almost 10.3% of total retail sales in the US in five years will be online purchases, or USD 370 billion in web sales compared to USD 3.6 trillion in total retail sales.
In contrast, in 2012, e-commerce has accounted for just 5.2% of total retail spending in the US, according to the US Commerce Department figures that include items rarely if ever bought online, such as gasoline and restaurant meals. And in 2012, less than half (46%) of total US retail sales were either transacted directly or influenced by internet research on PCs, smartphones and tablets, Forrester says.
Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester analyst and author of the report, has declared that driving this e-retailing growth is the increasing ubiquity of smartphone ownership in the US along with retailers’ investments in enabling e-commerce and mobile applications, such as mobile coupons. By the end of 2013, 150 million (47.3%) of the country’s population of 317 million will be regular mobile internet users.
The Forrester study also points out that the categories that will be most influenced by internet research in five years will be grocery, apparel and accessories, home improvement and consumer electronics, in particular through mobile activity like reading customer reviews while in the aisle. Together, those categories will account for USD 1.1 trillion of the USD 1.8 trillion total web-influenced retail sales predicted for 2017.
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