AOL Time Warner said yesterday that its members spent $6.7 billion shopping online in the first three months of 2001.
Those numbers are up 70 percent from the year-earlier period and surpass the record $6.4 billion spent on AOL during the December 2000 holiday season, the company said.
The new research indicates that AOL members increasingly are embracing online shopping for mainstream consumer goods and services. The fastest-growing purchasing categories over the past year are furniture (239 percent); theater and sports tickets (147 percent); clothing (144 percent); and groceries (106 percent). In addition, AOL members used Shop@AOL's Search to locate a broad range of items during the quarter. Top Search items included digital cameras; Sony PlayStation 2; and cars.
“The record spending by AOL members during the quarter demonstrates the extent to which the online medium is becoming integrated into people's daily lives,” said Barry Schuler, chairman/CEO of America Online Inc. “In fact, approximately 50 percent of AOL members in the U.S. made an online purchase in the month of March alone.”
