According to a new data released by Forrester Research, the combined percentage of online and web-influenced offline sales will grow to 53 percent of total U.S. retail sales by 2014 (up from the current 42 percent).

This information is part of Forrester's five-year forecast of e-commerce sales in the U.S. and Europe. TechCrunch provides an overview of this forecast (including charts) highlighting that "e-commerce sales in the U.S. will keep growing at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate through 2014." This steady growth is a huge indicator of the impact online sales have on overall growth of the retail industry.

Highlights of Forrester's U.S. forecast:

• In 2009, online retail sales were up 11 percent, compared to 2.5 percent for all retail sales
• By 2014, the Web will be influencing $1.4 billion worth of in-store sales
• e-commerce sales will represent 8 percent of all retail sales in the U.S. by 2014, up from 6 percent in 2009
• In 2009, 154 million people in the U.S. bought something online, or 67 percent of the online population (4 percent more than in 2008)
• Three product categories (computers, apparel, and consumer electronics) represented more than 44 percent of online sales($67.6 billion) in 2009

In Europe, the average spend per online shopper will rise from €483 in 2009 to €601 in 2014, indicating an 11 percent growth rate. This growth rate will bring the number of European online shoppers from 41 million in 2009 to 190 million by 2014.

However, Forrester concludes that most retailers fall short on offering a seamless cross-channel experience to their customers.

According to Forrester's data:

…while 82 percent of US online consumers are satisfied with buying experiences that began and ended in a store, satisfaction drops to 61 percent for consumers who began their research online and purchased in a store.

For retailers to improve in-store sales, they need to be more aggressive in creating that seamless cross-channel experience. This involves analyzing current investment in mobile, web and in-store retail strategies and identifying where improvements are required to create the seamless cross-channel shopping experience more and more consumers are expecting across all touchpoints.