CONSUMERS SPENT $2.8 BILLION ONLINE IN JANUARY, NEW INDEX SAYS

CONSUMERS SPENT $2.8 BILLION ONLINE IN JANUARY, NEW INDEX SAYS       The National Retail Federation and Forrester Research, in conjunction with Greenfield Online, reported in the first results of a new online retail index that consumers spent $2.8 billion online during January.
      The NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index said that, following airline tickets, customers spent most on books and computer hardware ($224.4 million each), software ($186.7 million) and apparel ($181.6 million).
      Media products accounted for $653.6 million, or 23.3 percent of the month's purchases. Service-oriented purchases, airline tickets, hotel and car rental, totaled $582.8 million or nearly 21 percent of online purchases.
      'Shopping online is here to stay, as evidenced by the fact that in January online consumers spent more than half of what was spent online during the entire holiday season,' said David M. Cooperstein, director of Forrester's Online Retail Research. 'The index will help identify what consumers are buying and how much they are spending using this new purchasing mechanism.'
      The index tracked 13,744 shoppers spending an average of $202.59 each.