According to a new report released by trade group Shop.org, conducted by Forrester Research, online sales excluding travel are expected to hit $204 billion in 2008, an increase of 17% over last year. The top three categories will be apparel at $26.6 billion, computers at $23.9 billion and autos at $19.3 billion, according to The State of Retailing 2008 Marketing Report.

The recently released iProspect Blended Search Results Study, conducted by Jupiter Research, found that search engine users click specialized content within general search results more than they do within vertical search results.

Nielsen Online recently released findings which finds that protecting the environment has become increasingly important to consumers, with online buzz around sustainability growing 50 percent in 2007. While early in the year discussion was dominated by the topic of global warming, bloggers progressively addressed a wider variety of green-related issues, with a particular emphasis on personal action such as recycling, avoiding excess packaging, and carpooling.

In a recent ICOM survey of U.S. Shoppers, selected from a 40,000 HH database, 67% said they are much more likely, or somewhat more likely, to use coupons during a recession. The breakdown was 45% percent much more likely and 22% percent somewhat more likely. Over the past ten years, the average coupon redemption rate has declined to less than 1.0 percent from a level of 1.6 percent across all U.S. coupons distributed, says the report.

A drill down into the career and educational channels including demographics, advertisers, sizes and types, as well as video streamers and consumption in February

In their annual spring forecast update of the U.S. economy, University of Michigan professor emeritus of economics Saul Hymans, and colleagues Joan Crary and Janet Wolfe, predict a 1.5 percent decline in national economic output growth (as measured by real Gross Domestic Product) for the current quarter, a drop of $44 billion. But a "no-growth" second quarter, thanks to smaller declines in vehicle sales, nondurable consumption and residential construction, gives reason for hope.

In its first advertising expenditure forecasts of 2008, ZenithOptimedia downgraded its combined growth forecasts for North America and Western Europe this year from 4.4% to 3.8%, as consumer and business confidence is negatively impacted by current economic conditions. However, says the report, growth continues to strengthen elsewhere, and Zenith increased its 2008 forecasts for the rest of the world from 10.9% to 11.1%.

In the more than 80 metropolitan markets surveyed by The Media Audit, a recent study shows that those who are over age 50 with incomes of $50,000 or more (the "graying and affluent") have increased from 17.0 million in 2004 to 22.3 million during the past five years. Collectively, the markets surveyed have an adult population of approximately 142 million.

A recently released comScore study into national Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) search activity, showed that Yellow Book Network, which more than doubled its share from 4 percent to nearly 9 percent, benefitted in part from its new relationship with Addresses.com. Microsoft Sites experienced an increase in IYP searches after it began redirecting searches to Microsoft Maps beginning in December, subsequent to the dissolution of its partnership with Superpages.

According to a new Hitwise report, the market share of U.S. visits to Question and Answer websites has increased 118 percent for the week ending Mar. 15, 2008, compared to the same week in 2007. Over the past two years, U.S. visits to this category have increased 889 percent comparing Feb. 2008 versus Feb. 2006.