FYI: NANCY DREW VISITS THE WEB

Mystery shoppers ordered one item from each of 50 e-commerce sites and found:

1Q 2001 4Q 2000
Average shipping charges $4.95 $4.73
Backordered/out-of-stock merchandise 14% 6%
Real-time inventory information 66% 42%
Real-time order confirmation number 94% 84%
Average number of days for receipt of item 3.71 4.32
Online shipping status information 80% 76%
Source: the e-tailing group, 2001