Online sales decreased from $6.1 billion in December to $3 billion in January, according to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation and Forrester Research Inc.
The study, which is the 13th in a monthly series, also found that the number of households online dropped from nearly 20 million in December, when consumers spent an average $308, to 13.3 million in January, when $228 per person was spent.
Toys and video games experienced the largest decrease, falling from nearly $600 million in December to $125 million in January. Food and beverages, flowers, jewelry, and apparel also experienced significant declines. Consumers spent $88 million online in January on food and beverages, down from $336 million in December. Online sales of flowers dropped to $36 million from $107 million. Jewelry diminished to $62 million from $179 million, while apparel fell to $178 million from $501 million.
The Index is based on 5,000 responses during the first nine business days of the month. The survey results for January were fielded from Feb. 1 through Feb. 7, 2001.
