Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Online shoppers logged on to the Internet to spend more than $28 billion last year, with airline tickets, personal computers and hotel rooms drawing the most dollars, according to the Census Bureau.
The figures on online consumer spending highlight how computers have become an avenue for shoppers. The $28 billion projection for 2000 was up from $17.3 billion in 1999 and $7.7 billion in 1998.
The study was conducted by market research firm Jupiter Media Metrix in New York. The results were included in the Census Bureau’s latest edition of the Statistical Abstract of America released this week.
Online shoppers spent the most on airline tickets — an estimated $7.8 billion last year.
Web-savvy consumers also spent $5.1 billion on personal computers and $2.1 billion on hotel bookings.
Computer and software retailers relied most on e-commerce: 24 percent of all personal computer sales occurred online, as did 21 percent of all software sales. Consumers bought nearly $1.3 million in software over the Internet last year.
The 2000 Statistical Abstract contains more than 1,400 tables on topics including retail sales, population, and education.
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