Forrester Research Web-Influenced Retail Sales Forecast, 2013 To 2018 (EU-7)

By 2018, 43% of all EU-7 retail sales will be influenced by the Web, up from 30% in 2013. Seventy percent of web-influenced sales in EU-7 come from the UK, France, and Germany, with Spain and Italy lagging significantly behind. Although web-influenced retail sales in Italy and Spain are growing faster than the rest of EU-7, these countries' populations are less likely to be online and less likely to buy online. Web-influenced sales differ significantly across categories. The forecast emphasizes the importance of multichannel retailing, with web-influenced sales five times larger than online sales. A purchase decision can be influenced by the Web based on the different online information sources used prior to purchase such as search engines, retailer-specific websites, and cost-comparison websites, as well as the specific product attributes like product price that are best researched online. The forecast calculates web-influenced sales across 20 retail categories that include both online and offline purchases.