• New York Times, Monday, December 18, 2006 10:45 AM

If there's one group online retailers have never been able to snag during the lucrative Christmas shopping period, it's procrastinators. This year, Internet merchants are upping their shipping acumen and doing their utmost to process orders as close as they possibly can to Dec. 25.

However, the closest most can get--in terms of standard shipping, anyway--is today and tomorrow. A poll from E.W. Scripps' BizRate, says that 30 of 76 retailers polled would guarantee standard shipping by either today or tomorrow--double the number from last year--and there are fewer business days between the 19th and the 25th this year than last year.

It also helps that it's in the best interest of shipping companies like FedEx to up their efficiencies to ensure that online retailers can process orders as close to the cut-off date as possible. Retailers are optimistic that they will reap the benefits of these efforts. "There's no question these sales are going to go right to our bottom line, because we've never been able to get the procrastinators," said Shmuel Gniwisch, chief executive of the online jeweler Ice.com, which pushed its standard shipping cut-off date to Dec. 20 at noon.

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