• by December 21, 2000

A quick roundup of some survey materials shows that product information dominates, household purchasing has increased almost 50% since last year and globally, people are spending. Here's where and why:

OnLine Purchasers and Purchases

 OnLine Purchasing
 (% of US households)
 +---------------+-------+------+
 |
| 1999  | 2000 |
 +---------------+-------+------+
 | All Purchases |  24%  |  34  |
 | Books         |  45   |  45  |
 | Travel        |  26   |  30  |
 | CD's          |  27   |  27
|
 | Computers&    |  32   |  26  |
 | Hardware      |       |      |
 +---------------+-------+------+
 Source: the Conference Board

 Content on the Web
 +---------------------+-------+
 | Type of Material    | % of  |
 |                     | Total |
 +---------------------+-------+
 | Product
Information |  53%  |
 | News                |  36   |
 | E-mail              |  26   |
 | Portal              |  14   |
 | Retail              |  14   |
 | Games               |  10
|
 | Reference           |   9   |
 | Finance             |   8   |
 | Chat                |   2   |
 | B2B                 |   1   |
 +---------------------+-------+
 Source: Zona
Research

 Global E-Shoppers
 +---------------+-----------+-------------+
 | Location      | Number of |   Average
|
 |               | Purchases | Total Value |
 |               | Expected  | of Expected |
 |               | Next Year |  Purchases  |
 +---------------+-----------+-------------+
 |
Australia     |    8.1    |    $910     |
 | U.S.          |    7.7    |     779     |
 | Great Britain |    7.3    |     633     |
 | Argentina     |    5.6    |     445     |
 | Canada
|    5.6    |     382     |
 | Sweden        |    5.2    |     256     |
 | Japan         |    5.0    |     925     |
 | Hong Kong     |    4.6    |     556     |
 | Brazil        |    4.6
|     262     |
 | Italy         |    3.8    |     305     |
 +---------------+-----------+-------------+
 Source: American Express