• by December 21, 2005

There are four more days to shop for Christmas, Hanukkah, (the 8-day festival of lights starts at sundown Dec. 25), "Chrismukah," and Kwanza (the 7-day holiday starts on Dec. 26). But you have more time if you're celebrating Russian Orthodox or Greek Orthodox Christmas.

At any rate, here are a few items to keep your business mind occupied. The Goldman, Sachs & Co., Nielsen/NetRatings and Harris Interactive's Holiday eSpending Report reports that online shoppers spent $18.6 billion, excluding travel, during the first six weeks of the holiday shopping season--Oct. 29 to Dec. 9.

"Apparel and consumer electronics are consistently among the most popular gifts purchased during the holidays, resulting in the largest share of online revenue," notes Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen/NetRatings. She says sales of PCs and other computer-related hardware are being fueled by "aggressive discounting."

According to the eSpending Report, online shoppers have so far spent the most on apparel/clothing--to the tune of $3.4 billion, which is 17 percent of total online revenue. The consumer electronics and computer hardware/peripherals categories placed second and third, with revenue totals of $2.8 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively. Books and toys/video games rounded out the top five product categories, accounting for a respective $2.2 billion and $1.4 billion in online revenue.

During the sixth week of the 2005 holiday retail season, the Holiday eSpending Report asked more than 1,000 consumers to break down their 2005 holiday budget among various sales channels. Traditional brick-and-mortar stores captured the majority, or 69 percent of spending, compared to the 3.5 percent designated to catalogs. Online, the only channel to see growth, garnered 27.5 percent of the holiday budget, jumping 5.9 percentage points from last year.

And get this, the Report found that consumers had a late start to this year's online shopping. As of the fifth week of the 2005 holiday season, 30 percent of consumers had not started their online shopping, which was up from 23 percent during the same time period last year. By the sixth week, 19 percent of consumers still had not started their online holiday shopping, while 37 percent of online shoppers indicated they had finished. Forty-four percent of consumers questioned during this time period stated that they'd begun but had not finished holiday shopping.

Dougherty says consumers are growing more satisfied and comfortable with the online shopping experience and are waiting until the last minute to make purchases. "Online retailers are extending shipping deadlines later each year, which provides ample time to comparison shop for the best deal. Price remains one of the biggest motivators online and is reflected in large spikes in audience traffic," she says.

The eSpending Report is based on a weekly national survey of approximately 1,000 online adult consumers, capturing consumer spending, attitudes and motivations of more than 6,500 shoppers during the first six weeks of the 2005 holiday season.