Closing up the Net shopping gender gap.

A new study suggests that the gender gap in e-commerce is closing rapidly, as increasing numbers of women head online to shop for and buy products. According to a CommerceNet Nielsen Media Research study of Internet users in the USA and Canada, women comprised 38% of online buyers in April. That_s up from 9 months earlier, when the groups_ previous study found that only 29 percent of those who bought products online were women. The survey also found that Net usage had jumped 16% since last summer and the number of online users increased to 92 million. Women comprised 46% of Net users, up about 3 percentage points from the previous survey. The study defined Net users as anyone who had accessed the Internet in the month preceding the study and who still had access to it at the time of the interview. Noting that the number of Net users now represents about 40% of the population of the USA and Canada, CommerceNet executive vice president Mark Resch predicted that Net users would comprise a majority of the population within the next 12 months. The study found that the number of online shoppers was up 15% to 55 million people. Online shoppers, according to the survey, were surfers who had used the Internet to compare prices or get product information, regardless of whether they made a purchase. The percentage of female shoppers rose to 41% from 36% in the previous study. According to the survey, the top five products people shopped for online were: cars and car parts (18.2 million shoppers), books (12.6 million shoppers), computers (12.4 million shoppers), clothing (11.6 million shoppers), and CDs and videos (11.4 million shoppers). The study found an even greater increase in the number of people buying online. That number jumped 40% to 28 million. Resch said that e-commerce will continue to grow and predicted a self-sustaining cycle. More online shoppers will lead to more online business, which will attract more shoppers. The study involved telephone interviews with more than 7,200 people in April, aged 16 or older.