The current economy seems to be shadowing recent government reports that the growth of retail e-commerce and the number of new online buyers slipped in the first quarter of 2008. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that e-commerce sales for the period were $33.8 billion, a still solid 13.6 percent increase over the same period last year but definitely off the total mark for 2007 when online sales jumped nearly 20 percent over 2006 numbers.

E-commerce currently accounts for about 3.3 percent of total retail sales in the United States. However, the growth in e-commerce has been substantial in the last five years, relative to total retail sales which have grown at best 6 percent in the same period. Incidentally, the current growth rate is the slowest since the third quarter of 2001, which comprised the September 11 events.

There apparently also are fewer new online buyers but existing online buyers are definitely spending more on retail online. The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School Center for The Digital Future recently released data to confirm the trend:

“A large percentage of online purchasers reported that their Web purchases have reduced their buying of similar items in retail stores. After a small decline in 2006, the percentage who said that Web purchasing reduced their local retail purchasing somewhat or a lot grew to 67 percent of online purchasers, up from 65 percent in 2006.

“Seventy-one percent of Internet purchasers said they sometimes or often browse in traditional retail locations and then buy online. Even higher percentages of respondents said they use the Internet as a merchandise browsing tool before buying in stores.”

Incidentally, the 10 most popular online purchases are books, clothes, travel arrangements, gifts, CDs, videos, electronic goods, software/games, products for hobbies, and computers/peripherals.

Meanwhile, a Piper & Jaffray survey of consumer sentiment suggests that online retail will be resilient against the uncertain economic picture. Survey respondents indicated most frequently the factors of convenience and the savings on gas expenses as influential triggers in going online for retail purposes.