E-commerce improves US retail sales

According to the November 2009 American Express Spending and Saving Tracker, the internet will be a popular resource for holiday shoppers this year. Of overall respondents, 79% plan to use the internet as a tool for holiday shopping, 45% plan to purchase items online, 28% will use the internet to buy hard-to-find items, 27% will use the internet for product research and 25% will go online for gift ideas.

The 2009 Holiday Forecast from comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com corroborates these findings. Its research indicates 70% of consumers plan to save money by performing research and comparison shopping online this year, compared to 38% last year.

In addition, according to the Deloitte 24th Annual Holiday Survey, 19% of consumers plan to access the Internet via their mobile phones while shopping to find store locations, obtain coupons and sales information, as well as research products and prices. This percentage rose to 39% in the 18 to 29 age group.