But Can Your Child Sit In A Digital Santa's Lap?

If stores are uncrowded this holiday season, it won’t necessarily mean consumers are sitting on their wallets. They may just have decided to do their shopping online. A report from JupiterResearch forecasts that online holiday sales will rise 19 percent in comparison to last year’s figure, hitting a total of $21.6 billion. The increase in spending per online buyer is expected to be a modest 2 percent. Thus, the gain in sales will come mainly from a rise in the number of holiday shoppers who do some buying online—from 73 million last year to 86 million this hear.