Online holiday shopping up, up and away

Online shoppers plan to spend 53 percent of their holiday budgets on the Web this season, overtaking traditional retail channels for the first time, according to a survey released Tuesday by America Online.

Shoppers also plan to boost online spending by 6.5 percent, reaching an average of $295 this year, compared with $277 last year, AOL said. The survey was conducted for AOL by Opinion Place, an online research site operated by DMS. Opinion Place surveyed 6,250 consumers from Aug. 19 to Sept. 9.

Several other recent research studies have pointed to higher online spending this holiday season. According to Jupiter Research, about 86 million Americans are likely to make purchases online this season, compared with 73 million last year. ComScore Networks recently said that online sales are likely to rake in revenue of more than $15 billion this holiday season.

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