"Well I think you can boil it down to one word, convenience. The ability to shop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, in your bathrobe at home I think is a very compelling reason to be shopping on the Internet."

Karl Salnoske, GM of ecommerce at IBM...

"We're seeing really two things. We're seeing a lot of new retailers who are coming online for the first time and we're seeing other retailers who may have been online for a while scaling up the selection that they're offering, adding additional shopping services."

At ivillage.com, co-founder Candace Carpenter says women are playing a big role in the online shopping growth...

"Once women buy, they tend to become high frequency, repeat buyers, more often."

. iVillage has seen tremendous growth in it's web sites created for women, and is launching, with AT&T WorldNet, a new online service for women. iVillage Online will be 14.95 a month, available as of January.