Less free holiday shipping this year

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Online retailers will cut back on free holiday-season shipping this year, an analysis released Monday by Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research said.

The study indicates stores will focus on in-store rather than Internet sales, the study said.

Forrester said holiday retail sales, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, will jump by 20 percent compared with 2003 to $13.2 billion. Between 2002 and 2003 sales grew 31 percent.

"As online shopping becomes more mainstream, online growth will begin to mimic lukewarm offline sales," said Carrie Johnson, senior analyst at Forrester Research."And, because stores are the channel most at risk of missing sales forecasts this year, retailers will scale back online promotions, such as free shipping, and will promote large in-store discounts as a way to drive customers to stores.

"As a result, the benefits of in-store shopping may outweigh the convenience of shopping online this year," she said.