ONLINE RETAILING ON THE RISE
By Adnews Staff
Revenues of online retailers are growing at 200% a year in North America and should exceed $13 billion in 1998, according to a study done by The Boston Consulting Group's Toronto office and shop.org, a trade association of online retailers. The 10 largest Web sites generate about 50% of online revenues. Computer goods, entertainment, travel and discount brokerages account for over 80% of the market. Retailers that combine traditional and online retailing account for 59% of online retail revenues. About 5% of new visitors to Web sites become online customers and only 1.6% of visits result in purchases. On the retailer side, 65% of online retailers are reinvesting in marketing and advertising, compared to 4% of traditional stores.