STUDY: NUMBER OF AMERICANS PLANNING TO SHOP ONLINE FOR HOLIDAYS RISES 15%.

HFN: The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network, October, 2003

NEW YORK-Half of American adults plan to shop online this holiday, up 15 percent from a year ago -- the biggest leap for any distribution channel. On average, people are budgeting $710 for seasonal spending, up 9 percent from 2002. And apparel again is likely to win dollars from the most holiday wallets but see a stiffer challenge from electronics.

Those projections were made by market researcher Brand Keys, based on interviews with 16,000 adults, in the country's nine census regions, who were asked questions about 31 industries and 189 brands.

For Robert Passikoff, president and founder of Brand Keys, the big news in the numbers is the jump in the number of people planning to do some holiday shopping online. He chalks that up primarily to their...