E-Shopping Soars
“Black Friday,” the traditional Holiday shopping kickoff, made the jump to cyberspace. Online consumer spending the day after Thanksgiving rose 28 percent over the previous Friday, and the number of e-shoppers spending money online was 19 percent higher than the average of the four previous days, according to the Neilsen/NetRatings Holiday eCommerce Index. The New York–based research company measures spending at 112 retail sites during the Holiday shopping season. Hot categories were electronics, which jumped 187 percent over the previous Friday; home and garden, which rose 105 percent over the prior week; and apparel, which increased 90 percent from the week before.
