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Technology Stocks : eToys Inc. (ETYS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (809)	11/29/1999 12:29:00 AM
From: bundashus	Respond to of 1330

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.''

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (809)	11/30/1999 12:57:00 AM
From: bundashus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1330

Looks like we are the only two who are following etoys. but, I found some more news about etoys. ** E-commerce a toy story Sales of computer software and toys paced the activity of online retailers the week before Thanksgiving, according to a weekly report from Goldman Sachs and PC Data Online. "We have seen a steady increase in e-shopping since summer," said PC Data analyst Cameron Meierhoefer. "But we're still waiting for the magnitude of business that some analysts have predicted. We'll know soon," he told CBS.MarketWatch.com. The latest report showed home Internet shoppers spent $274 million online during the Nov. 15-25 period, and more than 440,000 of these shoppers bought toys online. Toys had the second-largest number of buyers after computer software, which attracted more than 500,000 purchasers. "Nearly one in five people who went to toy sites actually made a purchase," said Cameron Meierhoefer, Internet analyst for PC Data Online. "Apparel, electronics, health and beauty, and sporting goods also showed impressive growth in spending," he said. The weekly report also showed reluctance to buy online line decreasing. A month ago, almost 16 percent of the 2,8910 home-based Web users surveyed said they wouldn't make online purchases because prices were too high. The latest data has the percentage falling to 6.3 percent.