Holiday E-sales Up

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/13/2006 12:00:00 AM

New York —

Consumers will flock to e-tailers this holiday season, with online commerce research firm eMarketer projecting a 22.1% boost over 2005.

While most brick-and-mortar retailers would be ecstatic over such an upswing, this is a modest hike in volume compared to recent years, said eMarketer. Projecting November and December online sales, the researcher said e-tailing will generate a ring of $24.3 billion.

The home textiles industry can take heart from a finding that, while jewelry and other luxury items are expected to boom in online sales, some large-sized home furnishings products show signs of e-commerce growth.

Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst said, "Growth in sporting goods and furniture purchases suggests that consumers are more comfortable than they were before buying expensive and bulky merchandise online such as treadmills and sofas."