While online sales to consumers represent less than one percent of total consumer purchases in the United States, online sales still represent a significant amount of sales for a technology in its infancy. Predictions about online sales change monthly. 2 Looking solely at sales figures actually underestimates the effect of a web site on a business's revenue. Approximately 31 percent of online consumers use the Internet to research goods they plan to buy offline. Since some consumers may use the Internet for product research while never making a purchase online, this too underestimates the impact of a web site since the figure refers solely to current online consumers.
Nationwide statistics regarding online commerce are difficult to find.
Since online commerce is a relatively new phenomenon, the federal government has not systematically collected these data. Independent research focuses mainly on consumers' purchases, which understates the effect of online commerce on a business's sales. To help fill this gap for Kentucky, the University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research has conducted two recent surveys of Kentucky businesses, one in 1998 and one in 1999. In the 1999 edition of the Kentucky Annual Economic Report, Steven Allen reported the findings from the 1998 survey. This survey focused on computer and Internet usage at businesses in Kentucky.