• by December 26, 2001

Yahoo! Inc. today reported that during the 2001 holiday shopping season, sales volume to Yahoo! Shopping showed an increase of more than 86% over the same period (Friday, November 23, 2001 - Monday, December 24, 2001) in 2000.

According to company officials, Yahoo! users spent $10.3 billion online in the fourth quarter of 2001. Also, Yahoo! Shopping's growth outpaced analysts original holiday growth estimates of 10% by more than eight times.

Yahoo! says that the second Monday of the month has been the biggest day for sales volume for Yahoo! Shopping for two consecutive years. (Monday, December 10, 2001 was the busiest day this holiday season)

Bargain shopping was one of the big themes that prevailed this year as numerous merchants enticed consumers to shop online by offering exclusive online sales or attractive discounts. Mirroring the offline shopping experience, Yahoo! Shopping today launched, its Post Holiday sale center, featuring a variety of offers such as 50-75 percent off merchandise from brand name retailers like Eddie Bauer, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Godiva, and SonyStyle. The Post Holiday sale center is available to consumers from the front page of Yahoo! Shopping (http://shopping.yahoo.com).

The top five most popular product categories on Yahoo! Shopping for the 2001 holiday shopping season were:

- videogame consoles (Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2);
- digital cameras (Olympus C-3000 Zoom, Canon PowerShot S100 Digital ELPH, Nikon Coolpix 995);
- laptop computers (Sony VAIO PCG-R505TS, Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600, Apple Titanium PowerBook G4);
- toys (Pixter by Fisher Price, Barbie merchandise and Bionicle by LEGO); and
- apparel (shoes, outerwear and lingerie).

Lastly, since some people probably got gifts they don't exactly know what to do with, Yahoo! Shopping network has introduced the Unwanted Gifts showcase, accessible from the front page of Yahoo! Auctions, enabling consumers to auction off those nice thoughts that still made you say "what were they thinking?"