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To: Jan Garrity Allen who wrote (521)	12/16/1998 12:20:00 PM
From: John Mav	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1038

AOL holiday shopping surges 350 percent By Reuters Special to CNET News.com December 16, 1998, 7:10 a.m. PT America Online said today that holiday traffic on its shopping channel has been three and a half times higher than last year, with shoppers spending an average of 50 percent more than they did in 1997. This included 750,000 first-time online shoppers in the first two weeks of the season, AOL said. Members of the company's Internet service are buying more often--an average of two items every week--and are spending 48 percent more on each purchase, for an average of $54 an item. America Online defines "traffic" as the number of visitors to its sites, and views its shopping channel as a mall where shoppers can buy from any of 110 online merchants, spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg said. While AOL did not release the specific number of buyers or visitors to its online site during the holiday season, 48 percent of its 14 million members had shopped online as of October. This was an increase from the prior year, when as of October 1997, 42 percent of 10 million members had shopped online. AOL said it is particularly excited by the increase in first-time shoppers. "A lot of members get hooked on online shopping during the holiday season because of the convenience, then they come back during the rest of the year," Goldberg said. The most popular holiday category this year was toys and other items for children, closely followed by apparel. Last year's most popular category was apparel, marking the first influx of mass-market consumers, Goldberg said. In 1996, the No. 1 online shopping category was computer products, she said.