Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR), in conjunction with Greenfield Online, today announced the results of the latest Forrester Online Retail Index. According to the 22nd survey in this monthly series, total US spending on online sales decreased from $4.0 billion in September to $3.6 billion in October. The number of households shopping online decreased to 13.7 million in October, from 15.2 million in September. Consumers spent an average of $265 per person in October, compared with $262 in September.

“Great deals — like zero-percent financing — in the brick-and-mortar world lured consumers back to the malls after a slow September, but they decreased their use of the Web to make purchases,” said Christopher M. Kelley, analyst at Forrester. “And, while they were out buying a car that they won’t have to pay for until next year, it was also convenient to pick up a sweater and CD that they might otherwise have bought online.”

About The Index
The Forrester Online Retail Index measures, on a monthly basis, the growth and seasonality of online shopping based on data collected from online shoppers. The Index is based on 5,000 responses during the first nine business days of the following month from an online panel developed by Greenfield Online. The survey results for October were fielded from November 1 through November 9, 2001.

The monthly panel is weighted to Forrester Research’s Consumer Technographics® Benchmark Panel, a survey of 90,000 US members of a consumer mail panel developed by NFO Worldwide, a market research firm. Data was weighted to demographically represent the US population. The Benchmark Panel was fielded from December 2000 to January 2001.

Note: Owing to changes in the methodology of the Index, beginning in April 2000, we discourage making year-to-year comparisons for any particular category until April 2001, although general top-line trends appear stable over that period.