Three of online shopping's most important value propositions are price, selection and convenience - and given the growth reported this season by comScore e-commerce sales data, these attributes
certainly have benefited online retailers. While many Web retailers offer these benefits, Comparison Shopping sites magnify them by helping consumers identify the most competitive offerings across the
Web. Many of these Comparison services use search-agent technologies to continuously monitor e-commerce sites and notify consumers which online retailers have the lowest reported prices for specific
products, such as consumer electronics, toys and apparel among others. Many services also report consumer satisfaction at various e-commerce sites. As such, fully 23.6 million U.S. Internet users
visited a comparison-shopping site in November 2002, according to comScore Media Metrix audience ratings. This number represented 27% of November's total visitors to shopping sites (88.0 million) and
17% of total U.S. Internet users (143.3 million).