More Shopaholics Hitting the Web, Jupiter Says

More shopaholics are hitting the Web.

Jupiter Research predicts the number of people buying gifts online will jump 75% this holiday season, but it estimates that the number of heavy online shoppers will increase almost fourfold.

The research firm says 35 million U.S. residents will make purchases online, up from 20 million last year. The number of people spending more than 50% of their gift budgets online, however, will likely rise to 6.3 million from 1.6 million last year, Jupiter says.

Jupiter also says that while books, toys and music will be the top products bought online this year, it also predicts a surprisingly large number of apparel and footwear purchases, now that more brand name apparel is making it to the Web. OldNavy.com, a unit of Gap (GPS), and AnnTaylor's (ANN) AnnTaylor.com are both new additions this holiday season.

Also backing up the notion that more Internet users are shopping these days, Media Metrix says the proportion of online users visiting retail sites stood at 74.9% in August, more than the 73.3% seen in December 1999.

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