The Internet is a great place to shop for electronics, but buyers like going to retail stores to complete the transaction. This is especially true for pricier purchases like TVs, according to a new study by the NPD Group.
Online sales of televisions reached $1.8 billion in 2006, up 38.5% from 2005's estimated sales. About two million TVs were bought from e-commerce sites in 2006, but that is still only about 10% of all TV sales.
US consumer technology sales totaled $111 billion in 2006, up 3.6% from 2005. Bricks-and-mortar revenues increased 4.6%, to $85.8 billion, while e-commerce grew a mere 0.5%, to $25.2 billion.
Stephen Baker of the NPD Group noted that for large items like TVs, "e-commerce is growing, but slower than retail."
"While we saw good growth in online TV purchases, the e-commerce channel is just too small to have a material impact on the market right now," said Mr. Baker. "As large screen TV prices become more affordable, we expect to see online TV sales grow."