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Technology Stocks : Excite [XCIT], an exciting stock to own in 1999! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TLindt who wrote (701)	12/20/1997 2:12:00 AM
From: chirodoc	Respond to of 3183

<<<<Doc I thought you'd find this interesting ....i like the way the excite guys think--and this asian crisis is making me wish i had lots of cash to buy more--go shopping in january TL

To: TLindt who wrote (701)	12/20/1997 4:42:00 PM
From: chirodoc	Respond to of 3183

So excite, ckfr, and intuit are getting into ecommerce---what could be better? <<<<<E-commerce sales last year were estimated at about $600 million. Industry analysts peg online sales at above $1 billion for 1997 and some estimates go as high as $3 billion, according to Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, a Chicago- based consulting firm specializing in e-commerce. She said the online retail market is expected to hit $6 billion to $8 billion by the year 2000. About 60 percent of the online customer pool are men and 40 percent women, Freedman said, and the balance is shifting. E-commerce is still a minute slice of the overall estimated $2 trillion-plus retailing industry. An International Mass Retail Association study found just 4 percent of consumers plan to shop on the Internet this holiday season, down from 25 percent who said they planned to in a November survey. But as bigwigs like IBM and Microsoft step in to provide the tools, everything from gift certificates for spa visits to computer software can be bought online. "This is the year that finally it's going to be screamed out from the mountaintops that electronic commerce is here," said Ben Narasin, president of Fashionmall.com, whose Web site (www.fashionmall.com) sells designer clothes and accessories. Narasin declined to give specific sales numbers but said his site experienced the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving rush when online orders rose 83 percent, compared with earlier in the week. Freedman, who has consulted for major merchants like Toys 'R' Us and Bloomingdale's, said a successful e-commerce Web site is fast, fun and efficient -- and her mother must be able to use it. "Until you satisfy her, you haven't reached the real shopper," Freedman said. In addition to hard-to-find items like old movies and obscure books, industry experts say commodity-type products, such as men's white shirts or computer equipment, are big online sellers. Freedman said gift certificates are also popular this year. "What an easy thing to do -- you can go right online and buy the certificate," Freedman said, citing, for example, www. gosalon.com, where you can buy certificates for manicures or facials, among other things. Fears about sending credit card numbers into cyberspace have subsided somewhat. Billups, who himself does Web graphic design, said that, like shopping in catalogs or at stores, online shoppers usually know if a vendor is reputable. "Just like a Polo store, you walk in and know it's quality clothing," Billups said. "Web sites have that feel, too." Most industry analysts agree that online shopping will continue to grow and become a more important arena for both retailers as well as computer and software companies that provide the tools to manage and design the Web sites.

To: TLindt who wrote (701)	12/21/1997 4:16:00 PM
From: chirodoc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3183

Hot Places On The Web: what's your take TL - Study 12/19/97 NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1997 DEC 19 (NB) -- By Patrick McKenna, Newsbytes. Internet business and home users flock to similar World Wide Web sites as a first choice. In a study of Web surfing habits during November, The PC Meter Company investigated top sites for news, entertainment, shopping and time spent at a site. Examining 9,847 home users and more than 600 business users, the company concluded the top Web sites to be America Online, Yahoo, Netscape, Microsoft, Geocities, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, MSN and digital. AOL and Yahoo topped the list with 47.4 percent and 40.7 percent respectively going to the popular destinations. Business users did not vary too much from home users. Yahoo, Netscape, AOL, Microsoft, Excite, Geocities, Lycos, ZDNet and Digital came in at the top. Of the people on the Web, 45 percent at least once during the month went to Yahoo. Netscape's second place showed 41.8 percent making a visit during November. The top news, information and entertainment sites for home users included zdnet.com, Disney Online, pathfinder.com, Sony Online, weather.com, cnn.com, bluemountain.com, espn.com, msnbc.com and Warner Bros. Online. Home users' top shopping sites included amazon.com, Cnet software download services, columbiahouse.com, cdnow.com, qvc.com, onsale.com, surplusdirect.com, barnesandnoble.com and musicblvd.com.