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U.S. E-Commerce Kicks Off Summer with a Resounding ‘Thud’

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Jul 25, 2001

Total spending on online sales decreased from $3.9 billion in May to $3.2 billion in June, according to the NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index. The number of households shopping online dropped to 13.1 million in June from 14.8 million in May. Consumers spent an average of $245 per person in June, compared with $265 in May.

The Forrester Online Retail Index measures the growth and seasonality of online shopping based on data collected from online shoppers. It is based on 5,000 responses fielded from an online panel from July 5 to July 13, 2001.

The $3.2 billion spent online in the United States in June was the lowest monthly total the Index has delivered since January 2001, when a post-holiday hangover dropped U.S. e-commerce to $3 billion, from $6.1 billion in December 2000. As recently as April 2001, the Index measured U.S. e-commerce over the $4 billion mark, at $4.3 billion.

June 2001 NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index
Category	Total Spent in June (in thousands)	Total Spent in May (in thousands)	June Index Results (June/May)
Small-Ticket Items
Software	$101,288	$126,934	0.80
Books	$136,567	$148,711	0.92
Music	$107,484	$150,434	0.71
Videos	$91,207	$106,987	0.85
Office supplies	$119,704	$113,467	1.05
Apparel	$217,611	$221,868	0.98
Footwear	$51,317	$58,583	0.88
Jewelry	$84,339	$72,798	1.16
Flowers	$40,168	$95,444	0.42
Linens/Home Decor	$62,376	$64,362	0.97
Health and Beauty	$125,300	$102,917	1.22
Small appliances	$30,314	$36,008	0.84
Toys/Video Games	$87,187	$118,319	0.74
Sporting Goods	$80,411	$79,091	1.02
Tools and Hardware	$24,993	$49,327	0.51
Garden Supplies	$20,309	$35,334	0.57
Big-Ticket Items
Computer hardware	$232,261	$304,450	0.76
Consumer Electronics	$176,769	$202,967	0.87
Appliances	$5,278	$36,215	0.15
Furniture	$28,608	$57,644	0.50
Food/Beverages	$87,961	$133,634	0.66
Airline Tickets	$566,261	$698,381	0.81
Car Rental	$120,924	$173,945	0.70
Hotel Reservations	$314,078	$367,603	0.85
Other	$294,818	$372,410	0.79
Total Spending	$3,207,531	$3,927,834	0.82
Number of Buyers	13,059	14,815
Average Spent per Consumer	$246.62	$265.13	0.93
Source: NRF/Forrester

About the index:
The NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index measures, on a monthly basis, the growth and seasonality of online shopping based on data collected from online shoppers. The Index is based on 5,000 responses to an online panel fielded by Greenfield Online during the first 10 business days of each month. The monthly panel is weighted to Forrester Research’s Benchmark Panel, which surveyed nearly 90,000 US and Canadian members of a consumer mail panel developed by NPD Group. Data was weighed to represent the North American population demographically.

Compare to May’s Online Retail Index

U.S. E-Commerce Kicks Off Summer with a Resounding ‘Thud’

Michael Pastore

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