Reason 11 of why to shop from the comfort of your own home this Black Friday-Small Business Saturday & Cyber Monday:

With todays technology, you don’t need to go anywhere to do your Christmas shopping.  All holiday shopping has changed with a MAJOR trend towards ONLINE shopping!

Don’t ignore the data!

• U.S. online retail reached $175 billion in 2007 and is projected to grow to $335 billion by 2012. Despite strength in overall online retail numbers, there is no denying that ecommerce is beyond its earlier years of unbridled growth. (Source: Forrester Research; U.S. Ecommerce Forecast: 2008 To 2012)
• According to the survey, 212 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 195 million last year. People also spent more, with the average shopper this weekend spending $365.34, up from last year’s $343.31. Total spending reached an estimated $45.0 billion. (Source: NRF; Black Friday weekend 2011)
• The report forecasts that ecommerce revenue will grow to $680 billion worldwide up 18.9 percent from 2010 revenue. Online retail commerce in the U.S. alone will grow 13.2 percent to $187 billion. J.P. Morgan anticipates that global ecommerce revenue will hit a whopping $963 billion by 2013. (Source: J.P. Morgan via TechCrunch; Global E-Commerce Revenue To Grow By 19 Percent In 2011 To $680B by Leena Rao)
• Eighty-four percent of consumers intend to spend less or the same amount while shopping as compared to last year. Breaking down the data, GfK reports that a stunning 40 percent of American households will spend less this year, while 44 percent will mirror their spending from 2010. Only 11 percent plan to spend more. (Source: 2011 Holiday Shopping Survey; GfK Custom Research North America)
• Consumers will spend less on gifts and seasonal goods this Christmas, according to the NRF’s 2011 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. The average spend is forecast to be $14 less than last year at $704.18. (Source: National Retail Federation via BizReport; NRF decreases festive season consumer spending forecast by Helen Leggatt)
• Fifty-two percent of consumers plan to spend $500 or more on gifts this season. Thirty-six percent said they will spend less than $500, and 12 percent indicated that they do not have a budget. Conducted from Sept. 7-15, 2011, the survey includes responses from 3,070 U.S. online shopping consumers (Source: Pricegrabber; Winter Holiday Shopping Survey)
• Deloitte’s retail and distribution practice expects total holiday sales to reach between $873 and $877 billion, representing a 2.5 to 3 percent increase in November through January holiday sales, excluding motor vehicles and gasoline, over last season. (Source: Deloitte; Deloitte Forecasts a 2.5 to 3 Percent Increase in Holiday Sales)
• Seventy two percent of U.S. consumers expect their holiday spending to be “careful” or “controlled” in 2011. While 88 percent of shoppers intend to spend the same or less than last year, 71 percent of those respondents earning more than $100,000 expect to spend more than $500 on gifts this holiday season. (Accenture; Annual Consumer Holiday Shopping Study)
• A whopping 71 percent of consumers earning less than $100,000 per year are planning to trim back their spending this holiday season. In addition, 74 percent of consumers will be spending less than $800 in total on the holidays and 73 percent will begin shopping before Dec. 1. (Source: SymphonyIRI Group; Holiday Shopping 2011)
• 2010 Research: The 2010 online holiday shopping season was a memorable one in which we saw spending rebound strongly from the recession of 2008 and 2009. Retail ecommerce spending for the entire November – December 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, marking a 12-percent increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season. (Source: comScore; Ecommerce spending for November – December 2010)
• 2010 Research:  As the 2011 holiday season approaches, data from comScore’s Q2 2011 found that ecommerce sales in 2010 reached $43 billion. Looking back at last year’s trends, these are the top holiday spending days, with Cyber Monday coming in at number one. (Source: GoDataFeed; Stand Out this Holiday Season)

With the newly dubbed “Small Business Saturday”, don’t think of getting to the stores, there are plenty of small businesses online.  Help them compete with the retail giants this 2011 holiday season!