ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Despite the recent downturn in the economy and world events, U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2001 totaled $10.043 billion according the Department of Commerce, up 13.1 % from the fourth quarter of 2000. Furthermore, according to Jupiter Media Metrix (2001), on average, 51.3 million unique visitors went to shopping sites each week during the 2001 holiday-shopping season, up 50 percent compared with the 2000 holidayshopping season and up 95 percent versus 1999. Jupiter Media Metrix also expects that this trend will continue and consumers will increasingly allocate a greater percentage of their holiday budget to online shopping.
