Online Shopping for Valentine's Day

According to a report from eBillMe Online Spending Index, 32 percent of consumers plan to do their Valentine's Day shopping online this year, a 9 percent increase from 2010. There are definitely some online retailers who will be clamoring to get their share of those online consumer dollars. Here are some of my favorite sites for finding a great gift:

The place for unique and personalized gifts has a Valentine's Day Gift Guide to help you find the perfect gift for him or her. Choose from categories like bestsellers, flowers, jewelry and romantic.

Competing with Hallmark, Teleflora, FTD and 1800Flowers, this online flower retailer has a different spin. A lower price point and a do-it-yourself arrangement. I wonder which flower retailer will be the big winner this year?

These are my FAVORITE ecard characters. I don't know what my folks at American Greetings have to compete but these are my "go to" ecard guys. People love them!

Where will you be shopping this Valentine's Day?

Economic Climate Strikes Online Retailers

Due to increased consumer pessimism toward the economy in the wake of the recent economic meltdown, online retailers are beginning to feel the effects with a steady decline in visits. Overall traffic to retail sites has shown decline for the past eight weeks in a row with no signs of change.

The biggest hit came to online music retailers, dropping 21 percent in traffic this week. The second biggest decline in traffic was in computer retail sites, followed by ticketing sites and toys. This foreshadows a dismal holiday season for all retailers, both online and offline. Offline sales declines can be predicted based on this online traffic decrease because online research strongly influences offline purchases.