Top US eCommerce And Online Retail Predictions For 2008

As the US economy makes its way through a difficult 2008, eCommerce companies will face hardship as they encounter significant cutbacks in consumer spending. Forrester anticipates that year-over-year online retail spending will reach its lowest point ever in 2008 — approximately 17%. Companies will do the best they can to mitigate the effect of the sluggish economy by embarking on initiatives such as international expansion, where the weak dollar may prove to be a boon. But most eBusiness professionals at retail companies will realize that the verdict for the year has, for the most part, been written — and that they will be better served by looking forward to customer-enhancing initiatives such as enhanced multichannel integration and rich Internet applications (RIAs), which will position companies to take advantage of stronger consumer spending when the economy does turn around.