• October 29, 2008

U.S. traffic to retail Web sites has fallen for eight straight weeks as of Oct. 25, marking the first such decline since June 2007, according to a new study by Hitwise.

Visits to retail sites dropped 4% in September compared to an increase of 14% from June through August. Hitwise said the fall-off reflects consumers' cutting back on spending as a result of the current economic climate.

"These declines have strong implications for the upcoming online holiday season as well as offline sales," said Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise. "Everyone is aware of the role that the Internet plays to influence offline sales through research, so this slowdown may indicate a further ripple effect in sales in retail locations."

The Hitwise data is based on an index of 500 retail sites.--Mark Walsh