Now that the holiday shopping season is officially opened, Forrester Research predicts that the consumer electronics, toys and apparel categories will see the strongest growth during this holiday shopping season. 

In its “U.S. Online Holiday Sales Bring Good Tidings to Retailers” report, Forrester forecasts that U.S. online retail sales this holiday season will hit $18 billion, up 25% from last year, with 2.5 million new households expected to begin shopping online this year.   The full report can be found at www.forrester.com. 

A greater number of retailers are expected to use the traditional incentive of free shipping to entice consumers to spend more.  Last year, Forrester reports that 25% of online holiday shoppers indicated they purchased online to avoid shipping charges.