Online Sales Growth
For the full year 2006, online retail spending (non-travel) reached $102.1 billion, a 24 percent increase from 2005, and online holiday (Nov. 1-Dec. 31) e-commerce accounted for $24.6 billion, up 26 percent from last year, according to comScore Networks.
1/4/07,
Online Sales Reach $102B in '06,
Holiday E-Commerce Nears $25,000,000,000 (that's billion)
Source

The bottom line is that rising costs on both sides of the cash register are putting pressure on consumers and retailers to be more efficient in their approach to commerce—and that the Internet channel is in line to be a chief beneficiary of that convergence. “The one area that really hasn’t felt much of a slowdown in spending happens to be Internet sales,” says economist Bernard Baumohl, director of The Economic Outlook Group. “When you look at the annual growth of retail sales, year over year, it’s been around 7%. But Internet sales have consistently been growing at three to four times that. It appears that Internet sales are somewhat impervious to the stresses and strains we are seeing in the household sector.” 
October 2006,
Pressures on stores could spell more online retailing
Source

Online Retail Sales Projection
U.S. online retail sales will more than double over the next six years, reaching $316 billion by 2010. According to a new report from Forrester Research, the growing population of online shopping households, combined with effective multichannel integration and site improvements from retailers, will drive e-commerce growth to account for 12 percent of total retail sales in 2010, up from nearly 7 percent in 2004.
Source

Compared with the same period last year, year-to-date web sales of home and garden products are up 40%, apparel is up 40%, toys and hobbies are up 40%,…
6-2-06,
Internet retailing to hit major milestone in 2006, comScore says.
Source

2005 was another year of 25% growth for the industry. Total business-to-consumer e-commerce sales reached $109.4 billion, 25% higher than 2004’s $87.5 billion, which was 25% more than 2003’s $70 billion.  
June 2006, 
The Top 500 Guide,
Source

Web Outperforming Stores and Catalogs
Internet retailing has seen a decade of extraordinary growth. What’s more, during the past 10 years the web consistently has outperformed many multi-channel retailers’ store and catalog sales channels,
June 2006,
The Top 500 Guide,
Source

Rising labor costs
In addition to consumers’ desire to spend less on gas, Wyss and others note online and web-to-store sales will continue to get a boost from the increasing penetration of broadband connectivity into U.S. households. “As more people purchase more computers, as high-speed Internet access becomes more available around the country, and as wireless systems are set up, it’s natural to conclude that even as the economy slows, we are really not going to see the Internet show a comparable slowdown,” says Baumohl. 
October 2006,
Pressures on stores could spell more online retailing,
Source

Site Design
Although Newegg Inc. spent less than 1% of its budget on marketing, it grew sales from zero to $1 billion in four years by giving visitors to its site "as close to the retail experience as possible," Howard Tong, vice president, told IR2006. "It`s really just getting back to basics," Tong said. "We wanted to develop strategies to provide the best online shopping experience for our customer base."

Web/Internet/Online Content
When seeking to deliver the best and most focused e-commerce site content, retailers must know their customers very, very well, says BestBuy.com.

There are numerous ways to communicate with customers, and e-retailers must draw on all of them to accumulate and analyze information on customers` wishes and needs, says John Thompson, senior vice president and general manager at BestBuy.com.

"Customers are unique, and e-retailers need to create customer databases to best understand them," Thompson advised. He spoke June 6 in an address titled "Delivering Web Content That`s Focused on Customer Needs" at the Internet Retailer 2006 Conference & Exhibition. "Know your customers, listen to their needs and focus sharply on their unmet needs. In the process, make certain to stay true to your brand and not make investments you can`t pay for."
August 2006,
Content is King, Delivering Web Content That`s Focused on Customer Needs
Source

Statistics on Converting Online Sessions to Online Sales
While it`s clear that Internet search has far surpassed other media as a means for finding products, it can be challenging to figure its impact on sales, experts said at IR2006. "People don`t always convert in the same web session when searching," said John Miniati, Vice President of comScore Networks.

In a study of consumer search behavior last year, comScore found that only 17% of search-initiated sales--mostly movie tickets and flowers—occurred during the same web session. 20% occurred in later online sessions and 63% in latent offline purchases.  (This means your online store is driving customers to your store and that those who do purchase on line often visit your online store numerous times before purchasing/Mary Temple)

It`s also important to look at both the amount of traffic as well as sales derived from search as compared to non-search activity, said Heather Dougherty, senior e-retail analyst with Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. In a study of the retail apparel market, Nielsen found that 86% of consumers arrived at a retail apparel site directly, 8% through a non-search-related referral, and only 6% through web search.  
August 2006,
Internet Retailer 2006:
Report from the conference, Analyzing Search, Who`s Online and How Do You Reach Them?,
Source

Holiday Sales
Twelve days individual days during the two-month holiday season broke the $600 million mark for e-commerce spending. Just six days in 2005 reached $500 million in online sales, with the top day registering $556 million (Monday, December 12, 2005).

Wednesday, Dec. 13, marked the heaviest online spending day of 2006 with $667 million, followed by Monday, Dec. 11 ($661 million) and Monday, Dec. 4 ($648 million). Cyber Monday (Nov. 27) was surpassed 11 times during the subsequent weeks of the holiday season.

Online consumers delayed their holiday buying later than ever. Spending growth during the first third of the season (weeks 1-3) rose a modest 23 percent above 2005 levels, despite spending during the week before Thanksgiving, which grew 30 percent growth versus the corresponding week in 2005.
The middle third of the season (weeks 4-6), during which the greatest share of holiday e-commerce spending occurred, was consistent with the 26 percent growth demonstrated during the course of the season as a whole. The final three weeks of the holiday season (weeks 7-9) saw a major surge in spending as the procrastinators came out in full force, driving a 31 percent increase versus the corresponding weeks in 2005.
The week leading up to Christmas (week ended December 24) saw the biggest surge with a 45-percent increase versus the corresponding week a year ago, with consumers relying on online retailers' ability to deliver the goods in time for Christmas.  
1/11/07 from posting/Online Sales Reach $102B in '06,
Holiday E-Commerce Nears $25B, 
Source


Moving People and Knowledge

Articles and Statistics Regarding On Line Sales:

Internet retailing to hit major milestone in 2006, comScore says...Total e-commerce sales will pass $100 billion in 2006, according to comScore Networks Inc. The research firm says non-travel online spending in the first quarter of 2006 hit $23.9 billion, a year-over-year growth rate of 22%. By comparison, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports total non-travel online sales reached $24.5 billion for Q1 2006.
“Looking at last year’s numbers, if sales continue to grow this year by at least 20%, the industry will crack the $100 billion mark,” says Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks.
Fulgoni says the factors that will drive annual Internet retailing sales past $100 billion this year are as follows:
• People are continuing to become more comfortable with buying products online; and as a result, more shoppers are buying bigger ticket items.
• More Internet users are switching from dial-up access to broadband; this makes shopping online much easier.
• Multi-channel retailers are doing a better job integrating the Internet in their business strategies; a steadily increasing number are putting more efforts into and products on the web.
• Search engines and price comparison sites are having an increasingly larger impact online and offline; they are making it easier for shoppers to find exactly what they want at the best price.
Compared with the same period last year, year-to-date web sales of home and garden products are up 40%, apparel is up 40%, toys and hobbies are up 40%, office supplies are up 30%, and electronics are up 22%, according to comScore data.
Source

Pressures on stores could spell more online retailing
Higher energy costs will be a factor that will help the online retailer,” says David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s. While cautioning that the fourth quarter’s seasonal peak in online shopping could partially obscure the true effect of gas prices on web vs. store sales, he notes, “The money that people spend at the gas pump is money they don’t have to spend at the mall or online. But online is a more convenient way to shop and save gas. When people feel squeezed, they want to find a bargain. It’s a lot easier to find bargains on the Internet than by driving to the store.”