More than 17 million households will shop online by year’s end, resulting in $20.2 billion in 1999 sales, according to a new report from Forrester Research Inc. of Cambridge, MA. And the trend will continue: By 2004, 49 million households will shop online, contributing to sales of $184 million, the report noted. However, Forrester expects the number of online shoppers in the United States to level off at around 50 million households. This plateau will be offset by a steady increase in average online spending per household, growing from $1,167 in 1999 to $3,738 in 2004. By then, Forrester predicts the emergence of a new type of retailer – the post-Web retailer. “Post-Web retailers will need to do more than just sell everything to anyone,” said Seema Williams, consumer e-commerce analyst at Forrester, in a statement. “To succeed, they must anticipate customer demand, expand their product and service offerings into adjacent categories, and simultaneously sell through multiple ret! ail channels, including stores, catalogs, call centers, Web sites, interactive TV and mobile devices. None of today’s merchants are prepared for post-Web retail.”
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