• by December 8, 2000

For two quarters in a row, more women than men have made purchases online, and their buying priorities are different. Both sexes buy books - the leading item purchased online - at about the same rate, but then selections change. Clothing, while second among purchases by females, is sixth among men, for example.

For the quarter ending Sept. 30, women buyers outnumbered men by 2% and the previous quarter by 4%. This shows that the online world now mirrors the offline world in which women dominate the retail-shopping arena.

Greenfield Online's quarterly tracking study of online activities, covering the third business quarter, shows vigorous purchasing and future purchase intent by Net-savvy consumers.

This study has been conducted for ten quarters and is believed to be one of the longest-running studies of ecommerce available.

Rudy Nadilo, Greenfield Online president and CEO, says "Our research shows that the longer people have been online, the more likely they are to purchase on the Web. Research among these leading-edge Web users is like a glimpse of the future. Tracking over time will determine if these percentages of online purchasing will become the standard."

Of the 3,000 participants in the Digital Consumer Shopping Index, over 80% had made an online purchase and 44% made five or more purchases in a 90-day period. Seven in 10 say they intend to make more online purchases in the future.

In separate research during the month of September, Greenfield Online found that Web-connected consumers spend about $270 online per month.

To see the importance of online experience, 68% of the survey respondents who have been online for only six months made a purchase within the quarter, compared to 90% of those with three years or more on the Web.

The top five categories of items purchased during the third quarter of 2000 are books (25%), CDs (20%), Clothing (16%), Computer Software (14%), Airline Tickets (13%). The top category for both men and women were books, second for women was clothing and CD's for men, followed by CD's in third place for women and computer software for men, health/beauty products brought were fourth for women and computer hardware for men, and airline tickets brought up the rear for both sexes.