here is news item about etoys and other web companies
Shoppers Are Mall, Web
Hopping
By REBECCA COOK
Associated Press Writer
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- As consumers across the country flock to the malls to begin holiday
buying sprees, others are taking to the Internet, searching for real bargains in virtual stores.
Some of Friday's post-Thanksgiving crowds were evident in traditional ways, as customers
grabbed $99 TV sets and combed the aisles for other bargains.
The World Wide Web was hopping, too. At e-commerce giant Amazon.com, spokesman Paul
Capelli said volume was more than three and a half times that of last year's post-Thanksgiving
Day blitz, helped by an addition of other retail services since 1998. He declined to divulge exact
figures.
Internet retailer eToys (NasdaqNM:ETYS - news) also wouldn't tell of specific sales numbers,
but spokesman Ken Ross said ''things are buzzing'' on a day he called ''our Super Bowl and
our World Series all rolled into one.''
''The phone lines are extremely busy, packages are being wrapped around the clock,'' Ross
said. ''This is what we prepare for all year long.''
Last year, an estimated $3 billion in holiday sales were conducted over the Internet. Analysts
expect that number to double to $6 billion -- still a far cry from the estimated $180 billion that
traditional stores are expected to rake in this season.
Sales generally peak in mid-December for Seattle-based Amazon, but Capelli said online
shoppers seem to be starting earlier this year. In the past week, Amazon had a day of sales that
topped the biggest sales day for all of last year's holiday season, he said.
Internet shopping still only represents about 3 percent of total holiday sales, but e-retailers are
spending hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising to ensure broad exposure.
''Holiday shopping online will not just be for that 'wired' member of your family,'' Capelli said.
''This is the year it's going to become more mainstream.''
Shoppers are beginning to react. About 10 percent say they will use the Web for gift buying,
up from about 5 percent last year, according to a survey by Deloitte & Touche for the National
Retail Federation.
But evidence also abounded Friday that the annual in-person quest for the perfect gift is alive
and well.
At a number of Wal-Marts nationwide, there was near chaos as shoppers grabbed $99 TV and
$69 VCRs. Shoppers in Bossier City, La., literally beat down the doors of the stock room to get
more merchandise.
At a J.C. Penney store in Newmarket, N.H., Gwen Norris was glad to take her place in the
annual crush of shoppers.
''You don't get that rush of purchasing something and getting something brand new in your
hands'' when you buy online, she said.
A big test for online retailers this year is to see whether they can eliminate the glitches that
plagued many of them last season -- late deliveries, slow sites and out-of-stock merchandise.
Since last year, Amazon has doubled its customer-service staff -- though some are holiday hires
-- while eToys has gone from one distribution warehouse to three, company officials say.
In Little Rock, Ark., Ashley Honeywell of Fayetteville paused from shopping with relatives to
acknowledge that, for some items, the Internet might be easier.
Ms. Honeywell said she ordered a book and received it in a couple of days, but would have
had to wait weeks for a local book seller to have it.
''But for the personal part of Christmas shopping, that's different than clicking a mouse,'' she
said.
While anecdotal evidence from shoppers on Friday indicated that buying was up this year,
retailers know anything can turn fickle customers away -- whether it be extreme weather or an
overloaded Web site.
Already, a few sites -- including toy merchants KBkids.com and Toysrus.com -- were
inaccessible for much of Friday, at least partly due to heavy traffic.
''Anything can change a shopper's outlook over the next month,'' said Michael Niemira, a retail
analyst at Bank of Toyko-Mitsubishi in New York.
While e-commerce merchants tout the ease of Internet shopping, they warned that some items
will still be hard to find -- even online.
''Pokemon continues to sizzle,'' Ross said. ''When it comes to a hot item like Pokemon, no one
has enough supply.'' |
