US online retail (non-travel) spending continues to grow, reaching $41.9 billion during Q3 2012, representing a 15% increase from $36.3 billion in Q3 2011, according to new figures from comScore. This marks the 12th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and 8th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. The 15% year-over-year growth rate matches Q2′s rate, and is the largest for any third quarter since Q3 2007′s 23% rate. While retail e-commerce spending in Q3 this year was below Q2′s $43.2 billion, that quarter-to-quarter drop has been the case every year since 2007.
Given the positive trajectory for several quarters now, Q4 retail e-commerce spending should outstrip last year’s Q4 spend to set a new spending peak in dollar terms, due to the holiday period. Indeed, Shop.org forecasts retail e-commerce sales to increase by 12% to $96 billion this holiday season, or 16.4% of total holiday sales. A recent forecast from eMarketer is even more bullish on growth, projecting a 16.8% year-over-year increase in holiday retail e-commerce sales, with online holiday sales accounting for close to one-quarter of retail e-commerce sales for the year. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.
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