Despite the struggling economy, consumers spent $3.4 billion online in February, up from $3 billion in January, according to a study released yesterday by Forrester Research and the National Retail Federation.
The data came from the latest NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index, which is based on information collected in the first nine days of the month from 5,000 online shoppers.
The study found that online consumers spent an average of $248 per person in February, an increase of $19 per person from January.
Among the categories that saw increases in sales were appliances, which jumped from $24 million in January to $44 million in February. By contrast, categories such as toys, video games and office supplies experienced a drop. Video game sales fell to $52 million from $86 million, while office supplies sales dropped 21 percent to $68 million.
James L. McQuivey, research director at Forrester, said he expects the trend to continue.
“The economy would have to absolutely tank for us to see a slowdown in online sales from a month-to-month basis,” McQuivey said.
