Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : ITURF Inc. ( NASDAQ:TURF ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Big Dog who wrote (548)	9/28/1999 9:47:00 PM
From: Big Dog	Respond to of 614

Monument Fund sees online holiday sales above $9 bln CHICAGO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Online holiday sales in 1999 are expected to more than triple from last year's $3 billion, as an increasing number of Web-savvy shoppers turn to the Internet to buy gifts, an Internet fund manager said on Tuesday. ``We expect there will be a tremendous ramp-up in online purchases this year,' Alexander Cheung, Internet fund manager for Bethesda, Md.-based Monument Funds Group said in a conference call with reporters. ``We could easily exceed three times of last year's volume.' Online holiday sales are set to skyrocket because consumers are much better acquainted with the Internet. Also, higher employment rates mean consumers have less free time to shop in traditional retail stores as well as more disposable income, Cheung said. ``It seems a lot of them signed up (for Internet service) in the past 12 to 18 months, and they will be able to have the experience and the trust to buy things online,' Cheung said. "More of them will browse, compare, plan and purchase the holiday gifts online. The online holiday sales forecast from Cheung is derived from several factors, including Internet user growth rates and survey data from portals like America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news), he said. Online companies best positioned to capitalize on the expected boom in online holiday shopping include bookseller Amazon.com Inc. (NasdaqNM:AMZN - news), eToys Inc. (NasdaqNM:ETYS - news), and online auctions eBay Inc. (NasdaqSC:BAY - news) and Onsale atAuction (NasdaqNM:ONSL - news). Amazon.com is expected to do well because of its very broad product mix and it is also scaling up warehousing capacity, while eToys should have an edge over other toy companies because they have a good search mechanism on their Web site, Cheung said.