53 Section 3.1 Electronic Retailing E-tailing The fastest-growing form of off-site purchasing is electronic retailing, or e-tailing. E-tailing is the sale of products or services through the Internet. A subset of e-tailing is m-commerce. M-commerce, short for mobile commerce, refers to online sales that take place through smartphones or other mobile devices instead of computers. Mobile apps are software applications developed specifi cally for portable digital devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers. These apps make accessing an Internet site more convenient than keying an entire web address. Retailers can both market and sell through mobile apps. According to the research company Nielsen, 40 percent of all US mobile phones are smartphones. In addition, two out of three new mobile phones purchased are now smartphones. This means that m-commerce is an important and effective component of a retail business. E-tailing began in the 1990s on a small scale when the Internet was still gaining in popularity. However, it is no longer a trend. Figure 3-1 shows the growth of a few e-tailers in a 10 year span of time, as reported by Internet Retailer©. According to the technology and market research company Forrester Research, online retail sales are projected to grow by more than 10 percent yearly. The growth of Internet shopping is outpacing overall retail growth, which averages at 2.5 percent yearly. By 2017, Forrester believes online sales will total $370 billion, up from $231 billion in 2013. In addition to online purchases, Forrester Research reports that about 53 percent of retail sales were infl uenced by the web. Web-infl uenced sales are purchases made in a brick-and-mortar store where buyers fi rst researched the products or services on the Internet. For example, most people buy cars at dealerships or from private owners. One J.D. Powers and Associates study found that roughly 84 percent of all car buyers fi rst researched their purchases online. Web-infl uenced sales are projected to continue growing. E-tail Sales GrowthhrowtG Company 2003 Sales 2012 Sales Overall Urban Outfitters $7.3 million $663.3 million 9000%% Apple $405.5 million $8.8 billion 2078%% 1-800 Contacts $19.8 million $392.0 million 1880%%8801 FragranceNet.com $10.5 million $145.0 million 1280%1 Source: Internet Retailer© Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 3-1 Data compiled by internet RETAILER© shows a signifi cant increase in sales over the last 10 years for online retailers. E -tail S ales Company 2003 3 S ales 2012 S ales Overall InIncreaseseeacr Urban O utfitter s $ 7.3 million $ 663.3 million 9000 A pp le $ 405.5 million $ 8.8 billion 2078 1 -800 C ontacts $ 19.8 million $ 392.0 million FragranceNet.com $ 10.5 million $ 145.0 million 280%