Online Shopping

Calendar Live! picks top online stores for your holiday shopping needs. Go to http://www.calendarlive.com/onlineshopping/.

Consumers hopped online for some more Internet shopping on Cyber Monday after last week's post-Thanksgiving Black Friday frenzy came to a close. Many started early this year: Online spending on Black Friday topped $1 billion for the first time as some shoppers turned to their computers instead of braving the crowds in person. Cyber Monday is "the Super Bowl of online shopping," said Jonathan Johnson, president of bargain site Overstock.com. As of late afternoon, the site's traffic was up compared with last year's Cyber Monday, he said, but it was too early to predict how the entire day's sales would shake out. In the last few years, he said, Cyber Monday shoppers with high-speed Web access have started browsing Overstock at home after a day at the office.

A new one-day record for online shopping was set Dec. 12, exactly a year after the previous peak was achieved, according to a firm that tracks Internet sales. On that day, $288 million worth of non-travel goods were sold on the Internet, according to ComScore Networks Inc., a Reston, Va., research firm. The former record, hit Dec. 12, 2001, was $262 million. Online sales of non-travel items from Nov. 1 through Dec. 13 total about $7.

Half of America's workforce plans to hit the holiday sales this season from the comfort of their cubicle. According to a survey from CareerBuilder, 49% of workers will do some of their holiday shopping online while at the office. Of all workers surveyed, 12% plan to shop today's Black Friday sales and 16% plan to check out Cyber Monday deals next week. On Cyber Monday, an estimated 72 million people will go online to take advantage of free shipping and discounts. The CareerBuilder study is based on an annual poll conducted during August and September by Harris Interactive of more than 2,400 employers and more than 3,900 employees.

The best fashion bargains from catalogers aren't on paper. They're in pixels, as catalog merchants discover that the World Wide Web is the easiest way to sell their overstocks. Eddie Bauer http://www.eddiebauer.com was one of the first Web sites with its "Great Buys" and "Weekly Specials" sections. Typical deals include a $40 pair of women's leather huaraches for $19.99 or women's houndstooth linen shorts for $24.99, discounted 40% from their regular $42 price.

NetZero Inc. of Westlake Village, which provides free Internet service to its customers, has purchased privately held RocketCash Corp., an online gateway designed to allow consumers to shop on the Internet without a credit card. To complete the acquisition, NetZero issued about 5.6 million shares of its common stock. NetZero officials said they will use RocketCash's currency exchange and payment processing technology to create a merchant network for NetZero's 5 million registered users.

"Do I need a business plan?" "How do I introduce drug-testing for my employees?" "Where can I get legal advice on a merger?" Small-business owners often have questions about how to run their companies. This column will attempt to provide answers from a variety of experts. Consultants are interviewed by freelance writer Karen E. Klein. * Q: What type of expenses are involved in setting up an online shopping site?

Custom-made clown shoes? Art Deco bidet faucets? Handcrafted Amish quilts? When the Amish are online, you know that just about everyone is. And if you can't find what you want now, just wait a few minutes and a dot-com company backed by venture capital will move in to seize that market. Retail spending online looks to be on the rise. How much depends on whom you ask.

China's online shopping market is expected to surge over the next several years and could reach 2 trillion renminbi, or $315 billion, by 2015, according to research by Boston Consulting Group. The study found that Chinese shoppers are the most likely of the world's online consumers to check for product recommendations on social networking sites, and that online retail giant Taobao is the dominant e-commerce player in China. Last year the site, which has more than 800 million online products, accounted for 79% of China's online transaction value, selling more than the country's top five physical retailers combined.

If you have small children, a full-time job and an interest in keeping up fashionable appearances - prepare for some bad news: The era of sneaking in some online shopping at work may be coming to an end. A recent survey by Robert Half Technology, a company that helps businesses find information technology professionals, found that 60% of more than 1,400 chief information officers interviewed said their companies block access to online shopping...

Amazon.com on Thursday launched a dedicated wine marketplace on its website. The online wine shop is currently in beta, with thousands of labels searchable by type (red, white, etc.), grape varietal, winery, tasting notes (blackberry, vanilla, oak ... ), professional rating, vintage, ABV (alcohol by volume) or price. So far, customers in California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington , Wyoming and the District of Columbia (with more states to be added)

Katie Kay Mead was sitting behind the counter in her Los Feliz boutique, GatherLA, in late summer when two European tourists came in, asking for directions to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The tourists gazed curiously at a taxidermied fawn displayed among her edgy, bohemian wares, nearly all of which were made in L.A. by local designers. Unknowingly, the tourists had stumbled upon a more authentic slice of contemporary L.A. culture, perhaps, than the Walk of Fame. "Just walk that way for a while, you can't miss it," Mead said, smiling.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Online shopping discounts — Two men have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms after they were convicted of several crimes related to an online shopping club. James A. Sweeney II and Patrick M. Ryan were convicted of numerous charges of grand theft and securities fraud involving a Riverside company called Big Co-Op Inc., which claimed to offer rebates and discounts to online shoppers. Prosecutors had accused the pair of selling worthless private stock in the company, which they claimed was turning huge profits and about to make an initial public offering.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Online shopping discounts - Two men have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms after they were convicted of several crimes related to an online shopping club. James A. Sweeney II and Patrick M. Ryan were convicted of numerous charges of grand theft and securities fraud involving a Riverside company called Big Co-Op Inc., which claimed to offer rebates and discounts to online shoppers. Prosecutors had accused the pair of selling worthless private stock in the company, which they claimed was turning huge profits and about to make an initial public offering.

The Black Friday frenzy is over, but consumers have another major shopping event to keep the spending marathon going. The first Monday after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday traditionally marks the first big jump in online spending for the holidays. Millions of consumers are expected to storm retail websites for Web-only deep discounts, special promotions and free shipping. No longer just an afterthought to Black Friday, Cyber Monday has grown in importance in recent years. In 2006 it was only the 12th-biggest online spending day of the year.

As more shoppers turn to their computers and mobile devices to shop, spending smartly this holiday season is about more than knowing how to get a good deal. Consumers can save money, time and hassle during the Christmas rush by buying online, but they're also targets for identity theft and online scams. "During the holiday season, you can be in such a rush and let your guard down," said Scott Boding, director of order screening at CyberSource, a Visa company. "Because there's so much more purchasing taking place, it can become easier for a fraudster to blend in and slip through the cracks.

Re "Online for the blind," editorial, Aug. 30 The Times' editorial expressed a very simple, but too often ignored, truth: Denying access may be penny-wise, but it's usually pound-foolish. Online shopping is one example in which the virtue of full access is readily apparent, but the same logic applies to transportation, stadiums, parks, schools and throughout society. Instead of reactively complaining that "disabled people don't come here," we need to proactively create websites, buildings and transportation that everyone can enjoy.

Dreams of an egalitarian, people-driven Internet are being trampled by ruthless corporate hegemons who will not stop until they've built the Web into a giant Babylon of mindless commerce. Translation: Online shopping is better than ever! If you did even a little of your holiday gift buying online, you know that doing it from your desk beats the madness of a "physical" shopping spree on just about every count -- especially in L.A. Growing up in Massachusetts, Heather Sabin used to hit the mall with friends or family and make a festive day out of seasonal shopping.

If you have small children, a full-time job and an interest in keeping up fashionable appearances - prepare for some bad news: The era of sneaking in some online shopping at work may be coming to an end. A recent survey by Robert Half Technology, a company that helps businesses find information technology professionals, found that 60% of more than 1,400 chief information officers interviewed said their companies block access to online shopping...

China's online shopping market is expected to surge over the next several years and could reach 2 trillion renminbi, or $315 billion, by 2015, according to research by Boston Consulting Group. The study found that Chinese shoppers are the most likely of the world's online consumers to check for product recommendations on social networking sites, and that online retail giant Taobao is the dominant e-commerce player in China. Last year the site, which has more than 800 million online products, accounted for 79% of China's online transaction value, selling more than the country's top five physical retailers combined.