During that week home Internet buyers spent $495 million online, marking the second week in a row that Web spending fell, following its Holiday season peak of $1.2 billion during the week of December 6-12.

Online buying decreased throughout all categories, with the exception of "Food and Groceries," which saw a modest increase in both buyers and spending levels.

The weekly survey is part of a study commissioned jointly by Goldman Sachs' e-Tailing analyst Anthony Noto and PC Data Online to measure behaviors, attitudes and satisfaction levels of online buying during the upcoming Holiday season.

A leading Internet research firm specializing in Web commerce, PC Data Online surveyed 3,004 home-based Internet users about their online Web buying between December 6 and 12 in cooperation with Goldman Sachs.

"The online spending surge began Thanksgiving week with $545 million in sales, peaking two weeks later at $1.25 billion (see chart below).

During Christmas week, we saw online spending levels fall back to just $500 million. What we don't know is whether there will be a hangover from 1999 that will boost online sales to a newer, higher level."

Toys Web sites, which had earned the top category ranking for the past three weeks, fell to third place last week, behind computer software and music (see chart below).

Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking and securities firm, providing a full range of investing, advisory and financing services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base, which includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals.

Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.

Headquartered in Reston, VA, PC Data was established in 1991 and is a leader in technology intelligence and analysis. The PC Data Online suite of services was introduced in 1999 to track Internet usage. It has recently established a state-of-the-art capability to field Internet-based surveys.

Conscious Web browsing replaces Internet-roaming
Jupiter's latest research shows that 82 percent of online purchases are intended purchases rather than impulse purchases or the result of random browsing.

Of those intended purchases, Cassar went on to explain, 19 percent occurred after just visiting one site; 29 percent, two sites; 46 percent, 3-5 sites; and 6 percent, 6+ sites.

News Release Provided by Jim Carey, Director of PR at PCData (703-435-1025 x102)
& Andrea Bergofin, Goldman, Sachs & Co. (212-902-5400)