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Online Retail Executives Optimistic About Holiday Season; Survey Finds 45% of Consumers Plan to Spend More Online

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 /PRNewswire/ — Jingle bells are ringing early for
online retailers this season, according to a new Shop.org/BizRate.com survey.
The 2003 Shop.org/BizRate.com eHoliday Mood Study found that 67 percent of
online retailers are optimistic about this year’s holiday season, up from 60
percent last year. The optimism is well-founded — according to the survey,
62 percent of online retailers have experienced revenues more than 25 percent
higher than last year at this time and almost a quarter of retailers have
experienced more than 80 percent growth.

The eHoliday Mood Study is the only holiday measurement tool that is based
on data provided directly from online retailers in addition to consumer data.
The first of four installments, which represents the two-week buying period
between November 2 and 15, includes data from 90 leading Internet and multi-
channel retailers — all Shop.org members.

"Many retailers now have four, five or several online holiday seasons
under their belts and they’ve become very skilled at attracting customers and
delivering great shopping experiences to them," said Scott Silverman,
executive director of Shop.org, the online division of the National Retail
Federation. "Based on the numbers we’re seeing so far, online retailers have
plenty of reasons to be optimistic so early in the holiday season."

This year, consumers appear to be more Web-savvy than ever. According to
the survey, 31 percent of consumers are planning to spend more online this
year and 45 percent plan to do a higher percentage of their shopping online
than last year.

"Consumers had good online experiences last holiday and are returning to
the Web in record numbers for this year’s shopping as well," said Chuck Davis,
CEO of BizRate.com. "The online sector should experience a strong holiday
season."

The study also evaluated the success of online retailers’ marketing
efforts. For the first two weeks of November, retailers said free shipping
with conditions has been the most successful tool in driving holiday business
(37%). The survey found that the top three promotional vehicles thus far are
emailing to a customer list (74%), search engine marketing (46%), and
affiliate marketing (38%).

About the Survey

The Shop.org/BizRate.com 2003 Holiday Online Mood Study was designed to
gauge consumer behavior and online retailers success during the winter holiday
season. The poll of 3,207 online buyers (defined as anyone who has made a
purchase online in the last twelve months) and more than 90 online retailers,
all members of Shop.org, was conducted November 17 & 18.

BizRate.com Founded in 1996, BizRate.com is one of the largest, fastest
and most accurate shopping search engines on the Web. With an index of over
26 million product offers from more than 39,000 stores, BizRate.com uses
ShopRank(TM), a proprietary shopping search algorithm, to produce the
industry’s most relevant search results by weighing price, popularity and
availability of products, against the reputations of merchants that sell them.
At the heart of ShopRank(TM) are BizRate.com’s signature merchant and product
ratings, collected from more than one million online buyers each month, making
them the most reliable ratings on the Web. Every week, the BizRate.com
shopping search engine prepares millions of shoppers to make smarter, more
confident purchases and sends them directly to the checkout page of thousands
of online merchants.

Shop.org, the association for retailers online, is where the best retail
minds come together to gain the insight, knowledge and intelligence to make
smarter, more informed decisions in the evolving world of the Internet and
Multi-Channel retailing. Founded in 1996, Shop.org became a division of the
National Retail Federation in January 2001. The association’s membership
includes interactive executives from store-based retailers, catalog-based
retailers, Web-based retailers, and retail solution providers.

The survey will be conducted every two weeks during the holiday season
with additional releases on December 9, 22, and January 6.

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