Microsoft Corp, the largest software maker, said traffic today on its MSN network's Internet-shopping sites is forecast to more than double from last year and predicted holiday sales will be brisk.
On the day considered to be the opening of the holiday sales season, traffic on MSN's eShop will surge 150 percent from the day after Thanksgiving last year, said Jim Barr, Microsoft's general manager of commerce, citing company projections. The number of people visiting eShop during the past week more than doubled compared with the same week last year, he said.
Internet-based sales are expected to climb 11 percent to US$11.9 billion from US$10.8 billion last year, according to research firm Jupiter Media Metrix Inc. Though retail spending overall is expected to fall this season, Microsoft is "predicting a 10 to 20 percent increase in the online piece of that pie," Barr said.
While he said it's impossible to forecast how the increase in visitor traffic will translate into revenue, Barr expects sales to get a bump as well.
"It could be lower than the 150 percent, but it looks to be a solid holiday," Barr said in an interview.
MSN has 270 million unique visitors worldwide, Barr said, and operates as an online mall, putting 100 retailers, including Barnes and Noble Inc, Nordstrom Inc and Toys R Us Inc, in one online property.
Microsoft gets a fee for each sale made on MSN. The network provides Internet access to about 7 million people.
Microsoft rival AOL Time Warner Inc last week said subscribers on its America Online Internet service spent US$2.7 billion online in the past month, an 80 percent increase over a year earlier. Barr said Microsoft provide sales numbers once the shopping season ends.
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