The way consumers shop for everyday products continues its transformation towards the Web. In 2008, online retail accounted for approximately 7% of total retail sales in the U.S, with 1.5% of consumer packaged goods (CPG) spending done on the Web.

Ken Cassar, Vice President, Industry Insights, Online Division
I was very interested to hear the news yesterday that Amazon had acquired Zappos for $847 million in cash and stock. Since Zappos founder Tony Hsieh asked and answered some of his own questions about the deal in a letter to employees so I thought it’d be useful to engage in a Q&A with myself about the deal.
1. Why did Amazon buy Zappos?
A: Two numbers answer that succinctly: About 5 percent of Amazon’s sales are apparel/footwear sales, compared …

In November, eBay drew more unique visitors than any other apparel and beauty retail website: 7.05 million.
But it was Bath & Body Works’ website – ranked ninth, with 3.56 million unique visitors – that showed the most impressive year-over-year growth: 39%. 
American Eagle (+25%) and Gap (+23%) also logged impressive gains over November 2007.
The top 10 apparel and beauty online shopping destinations, ranked unique visitors in November, are below.

In November, almost one-third (30.6%) of all visitors to ProFlowers.com made a purchase — the highest conversion percentage among all retail websites, according to Nielsen.
Metrostyle (23.6% conversion rate), QVC (21.6% conversion rate), Office Depot (21.6% conversion rate), L.L. Bean (21.5% conversion rate), Tickets.com (20.1% conversion rate), Blair.com (18.9% conversion rate), Lands End (18.4% conversion rate), 1800flowers.com (17.8% conversion rate), and The Sportsman’s Guide (16.8% conversion rate) rounded out the top ten.
Top online retailers in ten key product categories, ranked by purchases and customer numbers in November, are below.

With less money to spend, consumers will undoubtedly be spending more time at home in 2009.
Already this year, Nielsen witnessed significant year-over-year (ending September 2008) growth in online activities with increases in time spent daily on videos (+46%), blogs (+20%), and e-commerce sites (+17%).
Expect this trend to continue, as well as increases in newer in-home entertainment options such as video vending.
But don’t expect more time spent at home to trigger increased book sales.
Technology-driven gadgets, gizmos, and games will dominate spare-time activities, while U.S. book sales will remain essentially flat, with …