Stepping out of the house can get costly when you are headed to the mall, the grocery, Costco, lunch, etc. Plus, there’s much “work” involved, parking spaces to wait for, lines to stand in and so on. Of course, there is another way. You can see what Brown will do for you.
According to a recent report from the Commerce Department, $61.8 billion of retail sales were transacted on the Internet in the fourth quarter of last year. That represents a 16% increase from 2010 and accounts for 5.5% of all retail activity over the holiday period.
E-commerce’s market share has soared eightfold since 1999, and even over the deep recession only experienced a brief lull not a retreat.
Brad Plumer of Washington Post’s Wonkblog, adds that it is worth pondering whether high gas prices have played a supporting role here. It’s striking that, U.S. brick-and-mortar stores first began their steady decline in retail share right around the time that $3.50-per-gallon gasoline became the norm.
