Consumers are six times more likely to be pointed toward independent or Internet-based retailers than to major bricks-and-mortar retailers, according to a study conducted during the holiday season by Internet-Engine titled Search Share Analysis. A mere 5.3 percent of the sites displayed by the search engines were for big-box stores. Independent e-commerce stores represented 32.3 percent of the sites. Manufacturer and shopping-comparison sites each drew nearly 21 percent of the search results. The study evaluated search activity for the average searcher, starting with a high-level or category-type search, then refining the search for specific attributes and, finally, looking at a specific brand or model. The search terms were entered on the Google, Yahoo and MSN search engines, and the results from the first page were analyzed, said Thom Disch, Internet-Engine's founder/CEO. This typically included the