Although online sales make up only a single-digit percentage of the retail business, they have a powerful effect on consumer choices, with many people researching prices and selection on the Web before they hit the stores. Hess said 90 million people a week visited at least one retail Web site in the lead-up to Christmas.
With shortages reported for some popular items such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod, many consumers racing against the clock -- and against other shoppers -- opted this year for a hybrid retail experience that involved both highways and high-tech. At Best Buy, for example, the company's customers made frequent use of a feature that allowed them to reserve a particular item online, and then get in the car and pick it up at a local store.
JoAnn Christensen gathers items in an Amazon.com shipping facility. Online sales the week before Christmas rose 53 percent from last year.
(Scott Sady -- Associated Pres)
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Sears offered much the same service. "When the holidays were getting close, it became an important option for those not wanting to leave anything to chance," Sears spokeswoman Rochelle Mangold said.
The popularity of gift cards this year also contributed to high rates of online shopping, since they could be ordered anytime and show up in the recipient's e-mail inbox within seconds.
For much the same reason, flowers and gift baskets, which can generally be delivered the same or next day, made up the fastest-growing category of online purchases this season, ComScore said.
1-800-Flowers.com expanded its menu of same-day gifts beyond flowers, to baked goods and candy. Spokesman Ken Young said increased options helped keep the company's sales strong late into the season. "The biggest rush of business we had was in the last 10 days [before Christmas]. No question. And it built in those last 10 days," Young said.
1-800-Flowers.com, like many online retailers, was especially aggressive in marketing its ability to handle customers' last-minute shopping needs, sending regular e-mails reminding the slow-to-shop that it wasn't too late. That's not to say, though, that the company wants people to procrastinate. "It's not something we advise them to do," he said.
That advice is likely to fall on deaf ears with Debbie Christian. The same is true for Kadrea Lindner, 28, of Reston, a fellow procrastinator who did all her shopping for her friends and family in stores, but also bought $750 worth of presents for herself online as a test to see if they'd arrive on time. Next year, she's thinking of going online exclusively.
"It was convenient," she said. "And it worked."
