• by December 12, 2005

Have you done your holiday shopping yet? Come on. You need to get started. Start now. Start anytime. Start at 3 a.m. We don't care. The Web's open.

Even if you haven't started, the number-crunchin' analysts at comScore Networks are putting a finer point on it. They estimate that consumer spending on non-travel retail goods at U.S. Internet sites will exceed $19 billion for the November / December 2005 period. That spending represents a nearly 24 percent spike over the same period in 2004.

Aw, shucks.

For the full year 2005, comScore had estimated that spending would reach $82.7 billion--versus $66.5 billion in 2004. Not a bad haul if the estimate bears out.

Visits to retailer Web sites rose 7 percent in November versus a year ago, with multichannel retailers like Target up 48 percent, JCPenney up 38 percent, and Wal-Mart up 35 percent.

And there's more. ComScore says there were more than 6.6 million iPod-related searches conducted in November. Searches related to the Xbox 360 hit 5.0 million for the same period, while PlayStation-related searches racked up 1.9 million. Obviously, having a new product on the market spurs search traffic. Harry Potterish searches were quite popular during the same period, with a total of 4.8 million searches.

If you're still looking for a present for that special someone, it's not too late. Get online and do some searchin', browsing, comparison price shopping, and research. Take advantage of free shipping and check the return policies. Send your reports from the front to this here Minute, so we can find out who's been naughty or nice!