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Online Retail Sales Breakthrough $100 Billion Milestone
Nice! $$$$$
Holiday Spree To Push 2003 Online Sales To 100 Billion Dollars
WASHINGTON - A surge in online holiday shopping is expected to push Internet retail sales for 2003 above the 100 billion dollar mark for the first time, a market research firm said.
Forrester Research said its projection of a strong shopping season for the year-end holidays -- up 42 percent from last year -- will push Internet sales to a new milestone.
"When the dust settles, US consumers will have spent more than 12 billion dollars online during the holiday weeks, and 2003 US e-commerce will eclipse 100 billion dollars for the first time," said Forrester analyst Kate Delhagen.
Forrester estimated that 2002 online sales hit 76 billion dollars, up 48 percent from the previous year.
Surveys on online spending vary greatly, with differing definitions of the holiday season and online purchases. Government figures, for example, exclude travel bookings and some other services online.
A separate report Tuesday by Goldman, Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen NetRatings showed that online shoppers spent 2.95 billion dollars during the second week in December, an increase of 48 percent from 2002.
The latest weekly report brings the total spent online excluding travel to 13 billion this holiday season, an increase of 46 percent over last year, the report said.
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