Online retail in the U.S. could grow to $370 billion by 2017, according to a report released March 13 by Forrester. The growth in online retail could outpace physical stores, as they continue to lose wallet share to web retailers, according to their report.
For 2013, Forrester expects online retail to reach $262 billion, a 13% rise this year in online retail over 2012’s $231 billion.
Some key drivers of the rapid ecommerce growth include significant investments in multichannel capabilities by larger retailers, rapid adoption of smartphone and tablets, U.S. online consumers’ increased comfort with web shopping, according to the report.
Shop.org said in its economic forecast in January that ecommerce will grow between 9% and 12% in 2013.
Thanksgiving 2012, according online measurement service comScore said ecommerce sales grew 32%. On Black Friday it grow 28% and 17% on Cyber Monday, according to the executive summary report.
In 2012 B2C ecommerce grew 15% to $186.2 billion. Forrester said in its October report “Key Trends in B2B Ecommerce for 2013” that B2B sales online are poised to top $559 billion by the end of 2013.