A Harvard historian, Nancy Koehn, expects that Web stores will outsellbrmail-order catalogs within three years.brbrbrWhy do people
shop the Web?brbrRecent surveys show we're all getting cozy with the concept. Consider that:brbrYou can
shop after-hours. A lot of people do. The latest figures frombrAmerica
Online, for instance, reveal that 40% of electronic
shopping takesbrplace between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m., when most physical stores are closed.brYou don't have to venture out of your cocoon to buy.brYou save time. You can browse a half-dozen virtual stores in less timebrthan it takes to park at a busy mall on a weekend.brYou save headaches and foot pain. No sweat. You can
shop in yourbrpajamas, and you don't have to carry any packages down the miles of mallbrcorridors, and across the hundred-acre parking lot. Services like FedEx andbrUPS bring your goodies to your door within a day or two.brYour neighbors are doing it, too. Forty-eight million of us use the Webbrregularly now according to New CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Research, whichbrclaims that repeat Web shoppers have reached a critical mass, at which theybrbegin to influence each other.brEven grandparents are getting into the habit, when
shopping for theirbrgrandchildren (10% of grandparents who browse for toys and kids' softwarebrmake a purchase--a phenomenal percentage for a group normally thought to bebraverse to computers).brBooks, flowers, clothing, beverages, travel, and autos are the categoriesbrpulling people beyond the original focus, which was computer equipment andbrsoftware. The mix of
shopping is beginning to approximate the discretionarybrspending patterns of the population as a whol@ Â? (õÃÿ¾Û€
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