Online shoppers let their fingers do the walking - across their keyboards.(Suburban Living)

0 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), November, 2000 | by Kukec, Anna Marie

Byline: Anna Marie Kukec Daily Herald Business Writer Some shoppers are diehards. Nothing stops them. And the Internet has become another way to fulfill the shopping missions of those who'd rather go online than stand in line. As a result, e-tailers expect about $11.4 billion in sales this holiday season - about double the revenue of last year, according to Gomez, a Lincoln, Mass., Internet research firm.

However, that increase comes with a price tag for e-tailers who were forced to revamp their Web sites to accommodate customer needs. Last year, many online shoppers faced problems: quickly depleted stock, crashed servers, Web site malfunctions and a lack of customer service. "A lot of e-tailers were unprepared for the huge volume they received last...