Sites offer last-minute holiday shopping
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(CNN) -- Good news for procrastinators: Online merchants say better technology and streamlined shipping are allowing them to take orders closer to Hanukkah and Christmas and still deliver gifts on time.
With an improving economy and more shoppers logging on, analysts expect online sales to shatter records this year. U.S. online purchases from Thanksgiving to Christmas will reach $12.2 billion, a 42 percent increase from 2002, according to Forrester Research. Total Internet sales for the year could top $100 billion, the research firm said.
"The challenge this holiday season is that, as increasing numbers of mainstream consumers move online, online retailers are finding themselves in greater competition with offline stores," said Carrie A. Johnson, senior analyst at Forrester. "To keep shoppers enticed, online merchants must continue to respond with promotions like free shipping and in-store pickup."
More Internet shoppers means more merchants -- even small mom-and-pop shops -- are launching Web sites trying to get their chunk of online spending. Here are a few sites that can help you deliver that bit of holiday cheer at the last minute.
