By Grant Shepherd

According to a recent research report, online retailing has witnessed encouraging growth over March, with increases both in items purchased and average dollar value compared to February 2009.

Coremetrics, the leading provider of online marketing and business optimisation solutions, reported that consumers who shopped online in March purchased nearly 12 per cent more items compared to the previous month, while the average dollar value increased by more than 4 per cent.

“The constant barrage of bleak economic news essentially wore consumers out earlier in the year. But in March, as the stock markets started to show some signs of life, consumers regained a measure of confidence about their purchasing power,” said John Squire, chief strategy officer for Coremetrics.

Squire also commented on how consumers purchasing behaviour is definitely changing.

“We’re seeing online purchasing behaviour that is strongly tied to consumer attitudes about the bigger economic picture, and the best retailers out there are finding ways to appeal to consumers who are spending their money more thoughtfully,” he said.

Despite this good news, the figures are below that of last year with average number of items per order, average order value and shopping cart conversion all falling significantly, with reductions of 8.1 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively.