According to results of Shop.org's eHoliday Study conducted by BIGresearch, 84.8% of online retailers will offer free shipping at some point during the holiday season, and 31.4% said these offers will begin earlier this year than a year ago. Shoppers may even see more free shipping deals this year, as 36.7% of retailers said their budget for free shipping is higher than last holiday season.

According to a new study of 2,000 women, Harbinger, with Ipsos, found that traditional web sites (70%) have now surpassed traditional forms of word-of-mouth (58%) as their preferred method for getting the word about products and services. When it comes to sharing information or opinions, women are still nearly three times more likely to do so with family and friends than to go online.