For the survey, directed by DoubleClick and conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings in the first week in November, 613 respondents were questioned as they exited e-commerce sites. Sixty-four percent of respondents said they plan to shop online--a 15 percentage point increase from last year.
Nearly one out of three respondents--27 percent--said they intended to shift at least 15 percent of their total holiday shopping budget to e-commerce sites. That group skewed female and affluent; 60 percent of the so-called "heavy shifters" were women, and 54 percent had incomes higher than $50,000.
Consumers also said they used the Internet to research possible purchases--particularly home electronics. Slightly more than half--51 percent--of respondents said they used the Web to research home electronics. Almost as many--49 percent--said they investigated games online, followed by 48 percent who were researching music, movies, or books.