Toy sites were most popular with 1.3m unique buyers, ahead of music sites with more than 1m unique buyers, but online spending rose significantly in every category. The number of buyers increased as well, with software 92% increase and health and beauty 91% showing the biggest increases.
Convenience was the most popular reason for shopping online with 52.7% citing that reason, followed by 13.1% seeking a wider selection.
People who prefer shopping offline do so because they want to take immediate possession of an item (25.8%) or to actually see or feel it (28.9%) the study found.
8.3% of online shoppers said that they would be unlikely to shop at a Web site again, according to a survey of 1,600 people conducted over two months by analysts Robertson Stephens.