Consumers spent $4 billion on-line in the month of August, according to the latest figures from Forrester Research. According to its 20th survey in a monthly series, total US spending on-line increased steadily since May 2001 to slightly over $4 billion in August, despite the general downturn in the economy.

The number of households shopping on-line increased to 14.8 million in August, from 14.7 million in July. Consumers spent an average of $273 per person in August, compared with $270 in July.

According to Forrester’s findings, August represents the second highest month’s spending this year, behind April ($4.3 billion). Last year’s Christmas shopping period holds the record for on-line shopping, with November’s estimate reaching $6.4 billion.

Forrester’s data is based on 5,000 responses during the first nine business days of each month from an on-line panel.

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