• by July 21, 2000

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Forrester Research, Inc., in conjunction with Greenfield Online, today announced the results of the latest NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index. According to the sixth survey in this monthly series, sales of spending on gadgets in a number of categories increased significantly, while sales of flowers online dropped from last month's high.

“Father's Day and college graduation sent online sales of small appliances, toys/video games, sporting goods, and tools and hardware through the roof,” said David M. Cooperstein, research director at Forrester. “Overall spending in these four categories alone increased by 51% in June.”

Other leading small-ticket categories include software, books, and music, which increased from a total of $374,849 million in May to $499,799 million in June, as well as jewelry, which grew from $53,956 million to $76,832 million. Total spending in small-ticket item categories increased from $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion. Big-ticket items also experienced a boost in sales, with computer hardware and consumer electronics leading the pack. Combined, these categories expanded from $455,226 million in May to $643,581 million in June. Online hotel reservations also boomed from $277,811 million to $420,114 million. Overall, online spending for big-ticket items grew from $2.1 billion in May to $2.5 billion in June.

Total spending increased from $3.4 billion in May to more than $4 billion in June, with the average spent per consumer increasing from $249 to $288.