WWW.HONOLUASURF.COM Honolua Surf Co.'s Web site sales are up 20 percent to 40 percent from a year ago. The company says most of its online shoppers have visited one of its stores.

Online retailers say
sales are holding up

While malls struggle, consumers
keep warming to 'Net shopping for gifts

---

By Alan Vaughn
avaughn@starbulletin.com

The downturn in consumer spending this Christmas season seems to stop at the modem's edge, according to Hawaii online retailers.

Nationwide, Christmas shopping is projected to be about even with last year as shoppers resist snowballing store discounts. But online spending is expected to modestly grow -- without many of the generous free shipping offers that were a hallmark last year.

By the end of last week, Hawaii's online merchants said overall sales are up, as is the amount spent per customer.

"I would say sales are triple what they were last year," said Bill Spencer, co-founder of Aloha Market Online, a Web site where customers assemble their own baskets of Hawaii-made delectables.

In the past year, Spencer said, the Web site has received about the same number of hits, but the percentage of those that translates into a sale has increased.

For December, sales at the site are triple last year, and year-to-date sales have risen 20 percent, he said, declining to be more specific.

"More people are becoming more comfortable with shopping on the Internet," he said.

The early portions of the Christmas season are a vital indicator of the volume of Internet sales, especially from Hawaii, since gifts must be purchased far enough in advance to allow time for shipping. Last year, for example, the peak online shopping day nationally was Dec. 18. Yesterday was predicted to be the peak this year.

December orders at Aloha Market Online were running about even with November, Spencer said, though the amount spent per customer inched up this month.

Most of the site's customers live on the mainland and ordered between $35 and $80 during visits this month, up from between $35 and $65 last month.

Nationally, online holiday sales are expected to grow 11 percent, to $11.9 billion from $10.8 billion last year, according to Jupiter Media Matrix. Bizrate.com, a Web site and research firm, is more bullish, projecting a 31 percent increase.

At Honolua Surf Co., sales are up 20 percent to 40 percent, said Web site and mail order manager Guy Junker.

"We're doing really well in mail order," Junker said. "Much better than last year."

Almost all of the site's orders are from the mainland, he said, and ramp up immediately prior to the mid-December shipping deadline. The apparel and surf gear retailer has maintained a Web site for three years, and relies heavily on shoppers who have previously visited one of its Hawaii retail outlets.

"They don't seem to be traveling quite as much here to Hawaii, so they're shopping online a little bit more," Junker said.

While increased comfort with the Internet has boosted online interest, some retailers say erratic mail service has slowed delivery.

"With the season and with the 911 episode that happened ... it probably takes twice as long," said David Gridley, owner of Maui Oma Coffee Roasting Co., a wholesale coffee purveyor that retails through a Web site.

In the site's second holiday season, Gridley said, the dollar volume of sales has grown 300 percent.

Like the other sites, Gridley counts on repeat customers.

"Most of the time, they visited us once and they buy a small amount and come back," he said.

<