• by December 14, 2000

Nielsen//NetRatings reports a spike in holiday shopping during the second week in December. The Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday E-Commerce Index, which measures home and work Web shopping in eight product categories, jumped 10% over the prior week and 78% since the beginning of this year's holiday shopping season.

While the 1999 season peaked with a 40% growth in the number of home shoppers, this year the number of shoppers has already risen 53%, setting a new record for the holiday season.

"Online holiday shopping got off to a late start this year, but has recovered with strong and consistent growth," said Sean Kaldor, VP of e-Commerce at NetRatings. "In the last five weeks, holiday shopping growth has consistently exceeded last year's results and the trend indicates that there is at least one more week of favorable growth ahead."

A key attraction to shoppers this holiday season is established brick and mortar retailers who have moved online. Brick and mortar sites have grown 103% since the beginning of the season, gaining ground on pure-play e-tailers, which are up 77%.

"Brick and mortar sites are tapping into their large, established customer bases and leveraging their enormous promotional budgets to drive millions of shoppers online," added Kaldor. "While late to e-commerce, these sites are winning their fare share of visitors and dollars."

An unrelated study released today, shows that 92% of attempted holiday purchases over the Internet are successful this season, according to results of Andersen Consulting's second annual U.S. e-fulfillment study. Also, the study shows that the service level gaps that previously existed between e-Tailers, traditional retailers and catalogers are either rapidly closing, or have completely closed.

As a group, across almost every measure, e-Tailers and retailers have made buying over the Internet easier, quicker and more reliable this year, according to the study results. This compares with last year's eFulfillment study results which showed that upwards of 25% of attempted on-line holiday purchases were unsuccessful.

"This study, conducted for the first time during the 1999 holiday season and again in 2000, shows that online holiday purchases are a better option for shoppers this season compared to last season," said Robert Mann, associate partner, Andersen Consulting. "The study suggests that online U.S. e-Tailers learned from their mistakes last year, developed strategies to address e-fulfillment and supply chain issues and more importantly, improved their execution, making great improvements that consumers will value."

This year's study attempted to place 563 orders at 97 different Web sites. To conduct the study, Andersen Consulting's Supply Chain group provided 15 of its professionals with a credit card number, asking them to place almost 600 orders online. All orders, ranging from books and toys to clothing, were placed over a 7-day period, at different times of the day an