Online Shoppers Spent $32.6 Billion

Online shoppers spent $32.6 billion last year, marking a 20 percent increase from online sales in 2000, according to a recent Commerce Department survey. And the last quarter of 2001 saw online sales climb to $10.4 billion, the highest total for any season since 1999. (Last year, fourth-quarter sales were $8.9 billion.) Analysts credit one-click shopping, greater security and data-based shipping and billing information that makes the buying process faster and easier for the increases.