FASHION PLATES NIP AT THE NET SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO GO OUT AND SHOP 'til they drop. But growing numbers are content to park themselves in front of a computer and find their clothes on the Internet. In the past six months, there has been a sharp increase in the number of people seeking a fashion statement online, says market researcher @plan. In a recent study, @plan found that 10% of an estimated 48 million cybercruisers over 18 years old window-shopped online for apparel. That's a 67% increase from the previous six months. Don't rush to open a virtual clothing boutique, however. Fewer than half of those shoppers actually bought anything online. Still, the demographics are encouraging for retailers, says Mark Wright, @plan's CEO: ''This is an upscale, affluent audience that traditionally made heavy use of catalogs.'' Convenience is the chief motivation for shopping online, according to 45% of consumers surveyed by Forrester Research Inc. And there's plenty to choose from: Forrester identified 50,000 online retail merchants selling all types of goods in 1998, up from only 500 in 1996. In apparel, big names such as Eddie Bauer, Lands' End (LE), L.L. Bean, and Nike (NKE) dominate the Web. Now, if they could just figure out a way to deliver cappuccino to weary Web shoppers. By Paul Judge EDITED BY IRA SAGER RELATED ITEMS TABLE: Who Buys Clothes Online

Updated Sept. 10, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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