Maine businesses report increased Internet sales

FREEPORT – Maine businesses are reporting increases in Internet sales this holiday season.

Companies large and small say their Internet sales are on the rise, and L.L. Bean recorded its best e-commerce week earlier this month.

“E-commerce is up considerably versus last year,” said Rich Donaldson, Bean spokesman. “We actually had days, when compared to the same days last year, that we had twice the demand.”

Nobody collects Maine-specific statistics on Internet sales, but all the evidence points to growth in online shopping.

According to a recent survey by South Portland-based Market Decisions, 21 percent of Mainers shop on the Web. That’s up from 5 percent five years ago.

Jerome Stanhope, a financial analyst with Maine Revenue Services, estimates that the state loses $5 million a year in sales tax revenue as a result of Web-based purchases by Maine residents. Based on that estimate, Mainers spend $100 million a year with out-of-state, online merchants.

Nationally, the Gartner Inc. research firm predicts that consumers will spend an average $235 each online for holiday gifts out of the $800 total spent. Worldwide online holiday sales are expected to hit $38.2 billion, a 48 percent increase from 2001, reported Gartner.

Art Jasmin, owner of the Portland-based Tomfoolery Custom Turkey Calls, makes his wooden turkey calls in a workshop off of Forest Avenue but generates all his sales on the Internet.

He said his site has spurred sales from turkey hunters as far away as Illinois and Mississippi.

“I make sure that on my Web site it says ‘Made in Maine,'” said Jasmin.

Artist Mark Kuzio of Stockton Springs, creator of the Ikebana serving dishes, credits his Internet storefront with pushing the demand for his dishes. He said online merchants have to spruce up, just as the stores at the mall try to look better with their holiday garland and trees.

Although consumers can’t buy directly from Kuzio’s Web site, he said his Internet presence has people calling him with orders.

“The previous Web site was working, but I think the new Web site has done better,” said Kuzio. “I don’t know if it’s a reflection of the fall season or of the better-designed Web site – I suspect both.”