56% of holiday shopping started at a merchant site

21% of consumers surveyed by Shop.org and BizRate acknowledged that they started their holiday online shopping earlier in 2005 than in 2004. 56% of consumers surveyed begin shopping for a particular item or gift at a specific merchant's website. 37% of shoppers started with a search engine, 18% - at a comparison shopping site, 19% at an auction site or shopping portal. 29% of consumers planned to start their online shopping via stores or catalogs