BizRate.com Flash Survey: More Employees Shopping Online at Work.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2000

It's Monday morning at the office ... does your boss know you're shopping online?

According to a recent Flash survey(a) by BizRate.com (www.bizrate.com), 70 percent of respondents shop online during the weekdays -- with 40 percent admitting to conducting the majority of their shopping on the Web on the weekdays between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Nearly three-quarters of those shopping at work assume their bosses are aware of their online activities.

"The combination of the longer work day and the added advantage of faster Internet connections at most corporate offices make shopping at work a growing phenomenon," said Seth Geiger, vice president of professional services at BizRate.com.

The truth behind Staff Shoppers:

 -- Mondays and Tuesdays are peak shopping days, according to 50 percent of surveyed shoppers  -- Peak hours: Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., according to nine percent of surveyed shoppers  -- More managers (30 percent) than staff (24 percent) approve of shopping online during work hours  -- More than half of surveyed shoppers work more than 40 hours a week 

About BizRate.com

Founded in 1996 and based in Los Angeles, BizRate.com (www.bizrate.com) is the No. 1 retail mall on the Web (according to Media Metrix, August 2000), connecting millions of buyers to thousands of sellers in a single, organized location.

Designed as a shopping hub, the site provides the best efficiencies for both online buyers and sellers. In the BizRate.com C3 Marketplace, shoppers have access to a powerful product search engine, single-click check-out, exclusive deals, "hot" product listings and gift guides to empower consumers to "shop smartly" across 19 popular store categories and thousands of merchants.

Through BizRate.com's rating system, compiled exclusively from point-of-sale and fulfillment surveys of participating merchants, shoppers can compare merchants across 10 service dimensions.

BizRate.com ratings appear on Consumer Reports Online and in Consumer Reports magazine, as well as on Microsoft Network, AltaVista, GO Network, Go2Net, Snap, Citibank, iChoose, Brodia and CNET. The BizRate.com C3 Marketplace is a featured addition to Fleet Bank Services online site.

BizRate.com experts are available to add commentary to your articles. To schedule an interview with a BizRate.com research expert, contact Lori Putnam, 310/305-3506, ext. 186, lputnam@bizrate.com or Julie Mathis, 323/866-6039, jmathis@mslpr.com

(a) Flash Survey conducted Aug. 28-29, 2000