Forrester expects growth for online retail sales in 2009

Despite the recession, online retail sales will continue to grow, according to new projections released by Forrester Research, albeit at a slower rate and at the expense of physical stores.

Looking at U.S. online retail sales; they are projected to rise 11% this year to $156 billion. Compared with last years growth of 13%, overall this is a slow down, however online retail remains an area of strong growth.

The reasons for the strength of this sector are pretty obvious, with the ability to price check across a number of stores enables people to spend less when money is tight, people are able to shop with the great convenience of being at home (or at work ? not that we would condone such activities) and with out the hasstle or expense of travelling to shops.

Many ecommerce shops are hammering home the benefit of shopping online by providing free postage negating one of the economic drawbacks of online shopping.