Economic Climate Strikes Online Retailers

Due to increased consumer pessimism toward the economy in the wake of the recent economic meltdown, online retailers are beginning to feel the effects with a steady decline in visits. Overall traffic to retail sites has shown decline for the past eight weeks in a row with no signs of change.

The biggest hit came to online music retailers, dropping 21 percent in traffic this week. The second biggest decline in traffic was in computer retail sites, followed by ticketing sites and toys. This foreshadows a dismal holiday season for all retailers, both online and offline. Offline sales declines can be predicted based on this online traffic decrease because online research strongly influences offline purchases.