According to the eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs & Company, Harris Interactive, and Nielsen//NetRatings, the 2002 online holiday shopping season saw strong results in November with American consumers spending nearly $6.2 billion for the entire month. Growing 22 percent, online spending last month surpassed last year's $5.1 billion total for November. Bargain-hunters have found the Web to be a solid resource for deals. Forty percent of the shoppers surveyed in November said that item price was a key reason in choosing to shop online versus a physical store. Wider selection and product comparison were also contributing factors.

The latest Nielsen//NetRatings audience traffic report reveal the top shopping destinations for Thanksgiving week, with eBay, Amazon and Yahoo Shopping leading the list of Web retailers. eBay attracted nearly 12 million unique visitors at home.

"eBay, with its large and loyal user base has become more than just an auction house," said Patrick Thomas, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "eBay's strategy to promote new and used gift items has made a significant contribution to their seasonal holiday traffic."

Amazon followed closely in second place as more than 10.2 million shoppers visited the site to shop for the holidays. Yahoo Shopping drew nearly 7.4 million unique visitors, while traffic to MSN Shopping totaled more 3.4 million unique visitors. Taking the fifth spot, Walmart.com recorded nearly 2.8 million unique visitors.

And according to a new BizRate.com study of 4,299 online buyers during the busiest Holiday shopping period (December 4 to December 9), more than half (54%) of Web shoppers are more deal-centric compared to last year. Shoppers are visiting an average of four sites before deciding which merchant to buy from, and will visit their chosen merchant site an average of 2.5 visits before completing a transaction. While ninety percent of online buyers are comparison shopping across channels (stores, catalogs and online), 68% of them say the best deals are found online, and most shoppers like to start their search at merchant or comparison shopping sites.

"Online buyers are telling us their tighter budgets and the emergence of more deals available online are the two key factors propelling them to buy online," said Chuck Davis, president and chief executive officer of BizRate.com. BizRate.com's comparison shopping site alone currently has 152 free shipping offers, over 677 merchant special offers, and another 1,000 product rebate offers. Other data from BizRate.com shows that up to 41% of purchases this Holiday season have already been influenced by free shipping deals.

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