Testing Grounds The latest industry being outsourced to India is clinical drug trials. And any number of tragic things can happen on the way to your medicine cabinet.
Friday Night Rewind It doesn't matter which team you cheer for. We've got video previews of every high school football program in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando County.
The growth of online retail sales have slowed down, but the number of hits keyed into the 500 busiest e-commerce sites is declining, says Hitwise, a unit of Experian that tracks Internet traffic.
Retail Web site hits, which started to slump into negative territory eight weeks ago, were down 3 percent the week ending Saturday, compared with the same week a year ago. Through the summer, they had been running 14 percent ahead.
The dramatic shift is one more ominous cloud hovering over tepid consumer spending that extends beyond the world of e-commerce.
"Everyone is aware of the role the Internet plays to influence offline sales through consumer research, so this slowdown may indicate a further ripple effect" of depressed sales in traditional stores, said Heather Dougherty, Hitwise research director.
Sites selling health and beauty products, groceries and alcohol, and home and garden goods were up. But music plummeted 21 percent, computers dropped 18 percent and ticketing was off 12 percent, while toys, hobbies, video and games declined 10 percent.
The 500 biggest retail sites accounted for 2.9 percent of all U.S. net traffic last week, down from 3 percent a year ago.
[Last modified: Oct 29, 2008 10:20 PM]
Comments on this article
by Wendy
Oct 29, 2008 10:20 PM
I hope this means the online stuff will even be cheaper during the holidays?
Subscribe to the Times
Click here for daily delivery
of the St. Petersburg Times.