Financial services research firm Javelin Strategy & Research released its 2008 Online Retail Payments Forecast. The study found that while online payments represents only 3.5% of total retail sales in 2008, consumers are steadily increasing adoption of alternative payment types, replacing transactions from the traditional, financial institution-controlled credit and debit cards. Javelin said during this year's holiday shopping season, it projects $7.8 billion will come from alternative payments versus $35 billion from traditional online payment methods. The overall projected growth for online payments is expected to reach $148 billion in 2008, climbing to $268 billion by 2013.