The growth rate of e-commerce sales has begun to slow from its torrid pace of recent years, but online consumers continue to use the Web for shopping, if not buying.

Ninety-two percent of online consumers use the Internet to shop and/or purchase online, according to a report by The NPD Group, Inc., which shows that even those consumers who aren't making purchases online are still influenced by what they see on retailers' Web sites. Eighty-four percent of occasional buyers, those who say they have made an online purchase only once or less in the past six months, describe their usual use of the Internet for shopping as "I usually shop online and go offline to purchase." "Measuring online sales alone cannot capture the full benefit of a retailer having an Internet presence. We know that even consumers who don't typically purchase online are using retailers' Web sites to browse and decide what to buy," said Pamela Smith, vice president of NPD online research. "Although it may not result in a purchase at that time, it could translate directly into an offline sale." NPD's research also found that consumers who currently shop at mass merchandisers say they will likely remain more loyal to traditional store locations for future purchases, while others who have traditionally shopped through catalogs say they are turning to the Web to make more purchases. The largest market for online shoppers who don't purchase online is most likely teenagers, who are increasingly computer-savvy, but lack credit cards. According to research by Jupiter Media Metrix, 89 percent of teens (ages 13 to 17) have never made an online purchase, but 29 percent research products on the Internet before buying them at stores.