Internet boom for gift shopping
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Online shopping has become hugely popular among Britons in the run-up to Christmas, research suggests.
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Take your Virtual Wallet music shopping
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Bargain hunters tracking down sought-after toys and electronics flocked to the Web ahead of "Cyber Monday," the unofficial start of the online holiday shopping season, three Internet sites said on Saturday.
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Holiday shoppers gravitated toward the Internet in big numbers late last year, with online retailers reaping some US&#36;23 billion from U.S. consumers. That figure marks a 25 percent increase from the &#36;18.5 billion spent online during the same period in 2003.
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Portable media players and related accessories are among the hottest gift items this holiday season. People can now carry thousands of songs in their pocket, and many of the sleek gizmos can display photos and videos as well.
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U.S. buyers shopped aggressively online on Monday and Tuesday of this week, spending significantly more than they did on the comparable days last year, according to comScore.Online retail spending hit $700 million on Monday, up 33 percent from last year, and $670 million on Tuesday, up 25 percent, the Web-monitoring company said Thursday.During the first 48 days of the holiday shopping season -- Nov. 1 to Dec. 18 -- U.S. shoppers have spent almost $25 billion in online retail purchases, up 19 percent from the same period last year, according to comScore.As Christmas day approaches, the intensity of online shopping will ease up, although late-shipping deals, in-store pickup options and price reductions should keep growth rates strong in the remainder of the holiday season, comScore said.The company expects online spending during the holidays to reach $29.5 billion, which would represent a 20 percent increase over the 2006 season.Meanwhile, Nielsen Online said Wednesday that a majority of online shoppers it surveyed reported being either &quot;very satisfied&quot; or &quot;somewhat satisfied&quot; with the customer support they received from online shopping Web sites.Nielsen Online&#39;s survey found that of the 46 percent of respondents who had posted or planned to post reviews about their online shopping experience, 88 percent said those reviews were, or would be, positive.Netflix topped the survey&#39;s customer satisfaction list, having been rated &quot;very satisfied&quot; by 90.3 percent of respondents, and was followed by comparison-shopping site NexTag.com (87 percent), giant e-tailer Amazon.com (86.6 percent), Yahoo Shopping (84.3 percent) and Kohls.com (84.1 percent). Rounding out the top 10 were Barnesandnoble.com, HomeDepot.com, Circuitcity.com, eBay.com, and JCPenney.com.On the other end of the spectrum, sites that in recent days have been flagged for buckling under the strong holiday-season traffic include Mastercard.com and Macys.com.Macys.com&#39;s home page faced slowdowns throughout Tuesday, taking, at its worst, about 38 seconds to load, compared with the usual 2 seconds, according to Web site uptime and availability tracker Gomez.Apparently, while experiencing availability problems, Macys.com has been serving up a page telling shoppers that the site is crowded and that they have to wait until traffic decreases in order to be let in. An apparent screenshot of this page was posted by The Consumerist blog on Tuesday.Meanwhile, Mastercard.com has racked up downtime of almost five hours between Nov. 9 and Dec. 20, equivalent to uptime of 99.5 percent for that period, according to Pingdom, which also tracks Web site performance. As such, Mastercard.com has performed significantly worse than sites from competing credit-card companies like Discover, Visa, Diners Club, and American Express, all of which have had uptime above 99.9 percent during this period, Pingdom said Thursday.Neither Macy&#39;s nor MasterCard immediately responded to requests for comment.
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People are searching online for everything from free games to free money
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From the pages of The Times, holiday gift suggestions from CDs to books to mail-order eats and more.
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Holiday Web sales are running ahead of forecast as online gift certificates helped give Internet retailers a chance to participate in U.S. consumers' last-minute shopping spree, Internet research firm comScore Networks said on Wednesday.
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It's a great time to be an Internet shopper, but the same search technology that is transforming the Web into a bargain-hunter's paradise is putting the squeeze on online retailers doling out discounts and incentives to lure customers.
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By Andria Cheng  U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart Stores and Federated Department Stores are pushing Internet sales this holiday season with Web site overhauls and increased investment - and for good reason.
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The retail sector overall may be reporting a sluggish start to the season, but holiday shoppers are scooping up tech goods at a brisk pace -- and they're scouring the Web for bargains more than ever. -washingtonpost.com
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Also: Digital cameras are the hottest gift for 2004. [News.com Extra]
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Daniel Greenberg, a freelance technology writer, will be online to discuss gift ideas for gadget gurus.
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Face it, shopaholics -- the Internet drains much of the fun out of holiday shopping and replaces it with ice-cold efficiency. Who wouldn't rather stroll through Neiman Marcus or Best Buy with their best buddy than sit solo in front of a computer, eyeballing page after page of tiny pictures showing what you could reach out and touch at real malls?
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The first raw data on Internet usage yesterday indicate shoppers rode heavy on the net. But there's one important question outstanding: Were those shoppers also purchasers?
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By Mick Zawislak Daily Herald Staff Writer  The holiday shopping season has begun and many purchases will be made online. Finding merchants you can trust and taking steps to protect your privacy are important this time of year, according to the Chicago Better Business Bureau.