Salon.com > Morgan Sande http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 I e-shopped till I dropped http://www.salon.com/1999/12/07/holiday_shopping/ http://www.salon.com/1999/12/07/holiday_shopping/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 1999 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/1999/12/07/holiday_shopping 'Tis the season to be e-tailing. This year a lot of people kicked off the holiday shopping season not with a trip to Macy's but with a jaunt online. E-commerce sites boasted 28 percent more traffic during Thanksgiving week than they did last year, according to Media Metrix, while the Wall Street Journal noted that analysts expect holiday sales online to reach anywhere from $4 billion to $15 billion.

Amazon.com reported 2.5 times as many orders as last year, and America Online said that 4 million members bought items online in one week. "Things are buzzing around here, that's for sure," says Ken Ross, spokesman for eToys, though he wouldn't give specific numbers on sales.

But you don't need stats to see that there's a big buzz about online shopping this year: Just turn on your TV or radio. This year, the cheery Christmas jingles are not just for Sears or Target or red and green M&Ms, but for a hundred seemingly indistinguishable e-commerce start-ups. "Shopping online is easy!" the advertisements crow, as elves cavort and Santas ho-ho-ho. No lines! Shop naked!

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