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Forrester: 2013 Online Holiday Retail Sales To Hit $78.7 Billion

Forrester forecasts $78.7 billion in US online sales this holiday season (including mobile and tablet sales), projecting double-digit growth rates for the third year in a row with a 15% increase over 2012's $68.4 billion in sales.

This year, 167 million shoppers will go to the Web to do their holiday shopping, spending an average of $472 for the season.

"Strong economic growth and low unemployment rates project a healthy playing field for online holiday sales and outweigh any lingering dampening effect of the government shutdown," writes Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru in the new research report, US Online Holiday Retail Forecast, 2013.

Despite increased consumer spend, online retailers can't expect to see double-digit growth numbers without adhering to holiday retail best practices, notes Mulpuru. Retailers must take note of consumer expectations: In a recent Forrester survey of US online adults, 50% said they would consider buying from an online retailer that they had never bought from before if it offered the lowest shipping cost or free shipping, while 42% said the best deal offers would sway this decision.

"But with consumers now expecting them, discounts alone won't be enough to guarantee the results that retailers are looking for," writes Mulpuru.

As such, the most successful online retailers this holiday season will be those that use mobile to their advantage, capitalize on email lists to attract repeat shoppers, and, above all else, ensure that execution is flawless.

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Forrester Report: US Online Holiday Retail Forecast, 2013

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Forrester: 2013 Online Holiday Retail Sales To Hit $78.7 Billion

Forrester forecasts $78.7 billion in US online sales this holiday season (including mobile and tablet sales), projecting double-digit growth rates for the third year in a row with a 15% increase over 2012's $68.4 billion in sales.

This year, 167 million shoppers will go to the Web to do their holiday shopping, spending an average of $472 for the season.

"Strong economic growth and low unemployment rates project a healthy playing field for online holiday sales and outweigh any lingering dampening effect of the government shutdown," writes Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru in the new research report, US Online Holiday Retail Forecast, 2013.

Despite increased consumer spend, online retailers can't expect to see double-digit growth numbers without adhering to holiday retail best practices, notes Mulpuru. Retailers must take note of consumer expectations: In a recent Forrester survey of US online adults, 50% said they would consider buying from an online retailer that they had never bought from before if it offered the lowest shipping cost or free shipping, while 42% said the best deal offers would sway this decision.

"But with consumers now expecting them, discounts alone won't be enough to guarantee the results that retailers are looking for," writes Mulpuru.

As such, the most successful online retailers this holiday season will be those that use mobile to their advantage, capitalize on email lists to attract repeat shoppers, and, above all else, ensure that execution is flawless.

Related Links:

Forrester Report: US Online Holiday Retail Forecast, 2013

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Kubernetes was not initially designed with AI's vast resource variability in mind, and the rapid rise of AI has exposed Kubernetes limitations, particularly when it comes to cost and resource efficiency. Indeed, AI workloads differ from traditional applications in that they require a staggering amount and variety of compute resources, and their consumption is far less consistent than traditional workloads ... Considering the speed of AI innovation, teams cannot afford to be bogged down by these constant infrastructure concerns. A solution is needed ...

AI is the catalyst for significant investment in data teams as enterprises require higher-quality data to power their AI applications, according to the State of Analytics Engineering Report from dbt Labs ...

Misaligned architecture can lead to business consequences, with 93% of respondents reporting negative outcomes such as service disruptions, high operational costs and security challenges ...

A Gartner analyst recently suggested that GenAI tools could create 25% time savings for network operational teams. Where might these time savings come from? How are GenAI tools helping NetOps teams today, and what other tasks might they take on in the future as models continue improving? In general, these savings come from automating or streamlining manual NetOps tasks ...

IT and line-of-business teams are increasingly aligned in their efforts to close the data gap and drive greater collaboration to alleviate IT bottlenecks and offload growing demands on IT teams, according to The 2025 Automation Benchmark Report: Insights from IT Leaders on Enterprise Automation & the Future of AI-Driven Businesses from Jitterbit ...

A large majority (86%) of data management and AI decision makers cite protecting data privacy as a top concern, with 76% of respondents citing ROI on data privacy and AI initiatives across their organization, according to a new Harris Poll from Collibra ...

According to Gartner, Inc. the following six trends will shape the future of cloud over the next four years, ultimately resulting in new ways of working that are digital in nature and transformative in impact ...

2020 was the equivalent of a wedding with a top-shelf open bar. As businesses scrambled to adjust to remote work, digital transformation accelerated at breakneck speed. New software categories emerged overnight. Tech stacks ballooned with all sorts of SaaS apps solving ALL the problems — often with little oversight or long-term integration planning, and yes frequently a lot of duplicated functionality ... But now the music's faded. The lights are on. Everyone from the CIO to the CFO is checking the bill. Welcome to the Great SaaS Hangover ...

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