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Happy e-Shopping By Rick McKinney For Yack.com 571 words
Red ribbons and bows, ornaments and mistletoe. The web is dressed for holiday e-commerce success. And as the millennial shopping season roars into action like Santa on a Harley, e-shoppers should have no trouble finding places to shop. At every e-turn in the e-universe, there's a cyber elf standing by ready to hand you a virtual shopping cart, a line of credit, an auction ticket. eBay, the on-and-off again e-commerce front runner next to Amazon, really does have cyber-elves. Good thing, too. Right alongside the general growth of the internet, online shopping is gaining popularity in exponential leaps and bounds. Why? Industry analysis points to trust. "Every time we turn the television or radio on, we hear `dot com this or dot com that," says Jeff Moulton, an internet analyst for Pcdata.com. "Whether the public admits it or not, familiarity with a product instills confidence in a product." Pcdata.com specializes in tracking and surveying internet traffic. According to a recent Pcdata study, fully two times as many people shopped online for Thanksgiving air travel this season than booked tickets through travel agents. Such recent changes in the way people shop bode well for internet "e-tailers" this holiday season. And who are the top shops this year? Two online bookstores, one auction house, two music vendors, one greeting card company, two software retailers, and two general shopping portals. But that's not all. Just about every major web portal and countless smaller sites are lit up like Christmas trees with hyperlinks and banner ads to service your holiday shopping needs. Have no fear. The ease of online shopping is here. No doubt it's tough to give up the idea that to "go" shopping requires leaving the house. But the phenomenon is catching on. So-called "brick-and-mortar" retailers are still far ahead of the internet in revenue. But that will change soon enough. It won't take much persuasion to convince even the most determined foot-shopper to shop online when faced with the seemingly infinite banquet of goods available just a mouse-click away. According to Pcdata and investment firm Goldman Sachs, home internet shoppers spent $274 million online during the week of November 15-21, and increase of over $66 million from the week before. The big seller in the gift department? Toys. More than 440,000 shoppers bought toys online in mid-November. Computer software, however, is still in the lead for general sales. Apparel, electronics, health and beauty products, and sporting goods are showing high online sales as well this season. And what are the prize offerings from the internet's top two shopping stops? Amazon calls "Mighty Fine in 99" their best-selling book "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," the DVD "The Matrix," and the CD sounds of Carlos Santana's guitar. eBay's top 5 gift ideas are video cameras, holiday plates, Nancy Drew, Harry Potter and one real life character: Michael Jordan. Click on the Michael Jordan link on eBay's home page and choice will be your only burden. The world's "leading person-to-person online shopping community" has over 6000 Michael Jordan items to choose from right this very instant! There's probably nothing you can't buy online anymore, except perhaps a genetically reproduced wooly mammoth. Scientists recently discovered a perfectly intact wooly mammoth in Siberia, however, so no doubt that's in the works as well. Why not put one on your Christmas wish list for say, the year 2010? Happy e-shopping, and to all a good night.
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