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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 (724)	12/29/1997 9:07:00 AM
From: chirodoc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3183

more bullishness on internet sales------Sunday December 28 3:19 PM PLUGGED IN: Shopping 'Till You Drop On Internet By Russell Blinch TORONTO (Reuters) - Attention shoppers: the store is not closing anytime soon and it likely expand by the second. Welcome to the world of online shopping, the biggest shopping mall ever, and more popular than most had previously imagined. Shopping 'till your fingers dropped in cyberspace became firmly entrenched in 1997, especially in the Christmas buying period that ended last Thursday. World Wide Web sites, big and small, reported heavy buying traffic. Just ask Eric Kassian, managing director of FabFour SuperStore (www.fab4store.com), which from its base in Calgary, Alberta, helps customers around the world over stock up on Beatles' memorabilia. "It has been a marvelous adventure," said Kassian. "We have seen wonderful sales increases since we launched in June (1997)," he said. Kassian said sales jumped 40 percent in September before rising more than 100 percent in October and in November. People didn't seem to be worried about security or other issues that once stalled online shopping while spending an average of $80 per visit. Kassian said one person went away with a $1,500 vintage guitar. America Online, with 10 million subscribers, reported that just before the Christmas holiday sales had doubled over the same two weeks in December of 1996. "The is the breakthrough holiday season in a number of respects to AOL's retail sales as both our partners and our members become more comfortable and adept in getting the most out of electronic commerce," said AOL President Bob Pittman in a statement. It was only a few months ago that Dell Computer Corp. wowed us with the statement it was selling more than $1 million of computers a day from its Web site. But in December, Chairman Michael Dell said his direct PC sales company was selling more than $3 million worth of products a day, or about $1 billion a year through its site on the World Wide Web. Internet research firms are estimating that online sales are now expected to tally between $1 billion and $3 billion for 1997, or substantially higher than the $600 million estimated for 1996. Analysts were previously much more cautious about the growth of online sales because of the belief that consumers were not comfortable with cyber shopping, including being nervous about lurking hackers who might steal their credit card numbers. But those fears seems to have disappeared faster than a tin of shortbread cookies at holiday time. Industry has doubtless done a marvelous job easing those fears with many a press release on how secure their sites are now because they are employing various kinds of security. People don't necessarily understand all the talk of encryption and secure standards but they have obviously decided to put their faith in the system after gingerly plunking their credit cards down on the Net. They quickly realized a bogey man didn't come and get them and instead discovered how convenient shopping online can be. It's not unlike giving your credit card to a waiter, using a bank machine or ordering with a credit card over the phone -- sooner or later it all comes down to trust with the institution that you are dealing with. Despite the success, there is an intriguing question to be asked: is online shopping generating new retail sale dollars or is it simply taking revenue from other businesses who have yet to establish an online presence? --For ideas or comments on the weekly Plugged In column contact: russell.blinch("at" sign) reuters.com.