Online Retail Index Planned to Measure Trends

The National Retail Federation (NRF), Forrester Research and Greenfield Online plan to create an
index of online retail trends aggregating online sales data by product
category and dollar value from monthly surveys of 5,000 online shoppers.

The National Retail Federation/Forrester Online Retail Index “will provide
the most current and comprehensive assessment of what is happening in
consumer spending
via the Internet,” the companies said.

“For the first time, our members will be able to get consistent data by
product category
on the state of the online market,” said NRF President Tracy Mullin.

“Business-to-consumer sales via the Internet became fundamental to the retail
landscape in 1999,” said Forrester Research President George F. Colony.

“To
better understand which categories are changing the fastest, retailers need
to know what consumers are buying through this powerful new channel. The
index data on consumer spending patterns will be the first and best research
available to help retailers understand these trends.”

Marketing research firm Greenfield Online will make available access to the
1.4 million online consumers in its research panel.

The survey, to be
developed by Forrester and fielded by Greenfield Online, will report its
first results by March 1, 2000, and will be available on both the NRF and
Forrester Web sites.