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The 1999 holiday season began with a bang over the Thanksgiving weekend, buoying hopes that e-commerce sales will exceed even the loftiest of expectations.
Adding fuel to the enthusiasm, Internet power brokers Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com and Steve Case of America Online both said Sunday that the holiday e-commerce explosion was the beginning of a long-term trend.
During an ABC television discussion, Bezos revealed that Amazon.com's orders are already more than 2.5 times greater than those taken during the same period last year.
Additionally, Case put the current e-commerce shopping frenzy in perspective.
"We are only now scratching the surface in terms of the potential of this new medium," said Case. "Over the next five years, I think it's going to be incredible."
However, despite predicting that e-commerce will continue to expand, Case added that brick-and-mortar stores are in no danger of becoming extinct anytime soon.
"If you look back over the last century and look at the innovations that drove us -- through the telephone, the car, the television. they didn't put anything out of business," he said.
Clinton Joins The Fray
President Clinton took advantage of his Saturday radio address to declare himself a bona fide e-shopping convert. "I intend to join them (cyber-shoppers)," Clinton said, "because online shopping has significant benefits, not just for consumers and large established retailers. Online commerce also opens a world of opportunity for local artisans and small entrepreneurs."
Clinton, while urging consumers to take "basic precautions," also pointed out the importance of the Internet to the economic well-being of the United States. "One of the key reasons our economy continues to thrive with the longest peacetime expansion in history is that we're making the most of new technologies," he said.
E-Gift Certificates Lead Charge
Meanwhile, a significant spike in electronic gift certificate sales is quietly leading the charge, with Webcertificate.com reporting today that sales have soared 700 percent so far this holiday season.
Additionally, the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based startup said that it expects to issue more than 10,000 gift certificates a day during the holiday shopping season.
"We strongly believe these kind of products will be the engine that drives e-commerce even further," said Matt Gillin, CEO of C/Base, Webcertificate.com's parent company.
Could Come In Handy
According to Webcertificate.com, as many as 50 percent of this year's expected 17 million online consumers could opt to buy e-gift certificates.
Competitor GiftCertificates.com, which sells branded gift certificates for retailers, restaurants, and hotels, also stands to gain from this holiday surge.
GiftCertificates.com recently hired actress Sophia Loren as a spokesperson and touts a client base that includes Barnes & Noble, Bath & Body Works, Brooks Brothers, CHANEL, and The Sharper Image.
Another sign that online gift certificates are taking off is the rise in single merchant e-gift certificates at major e-tailers such as Amazon.com and portals such as MSN.
MSN's new e-Shop service now features the MSN Gift Certificate, and many industry observers expect that other portals will soon follow with their own branded e-gift certificates.
Problems Persist
Despite the encouraging news, the Thanksgiving weekend saw its share of hiccups as well. Many consumers used the Internet to identify items for purchase at brick-and-mortar retailers, a phenomenon that has plagued airline Web sites for years.
Also, overwhelming demand at toy sites brought difficulties for sites such as Toysrus.com and KBKids.com, both of which suffered sporadic inaccessibility throughout the weekend.
