OnePages gift: A paginated guide to e-shopping for the holidays.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Service)

The good news: Shopping online for the holidays will be easier and faster than it was last year. The bad news: It's likely to cost more, as many e-tailers struggle to survive the dot.com slump.

How can readers make the most of their holiday surfing? Two full-color, broadsheet pages from the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, posted on KRT Direct and PressLink Online, look at the business of gift-buying on the Web.

The "help" page prepares shoppers by focusing on shipping, returns, security and "shop bots" and offers profiles on typical e-shoppers and the top problems they encountered last season. The "buy" page guides shoppers through the Web, pointing them to the best sites for decorations, toys, gadgets, electronics, accessories, books and CDs and edibles.

For previews and downloads on KRT Direct, go to http://www.krtdirect.com/onepages. If you already have a KRT Direct user ID and password, you can download any OnePage immediately.

To obtain a KRT Direct user ID and password, call Tribune Media Services at (800) 346-8798 or e-mail tms(AT)tribune.com.

Publications outside the United States and Canada, contact Atlantic Syndication Partners, phone: (941) 371-2252: fax: (941) 342-0999 or e-mail: sales(AT)atlanticsyndication.com.

OnePages also are available on an a la carte basis on the PressLink Online KRT Forum page under the BROWSE KRT ONEPAGES & SPECIAL SECTIONS pop-up menu. Here is the PressLink URL: http://online.presslink.com. Call 800-888-6195 for pricing, download charges or to become a PressLink Online member.

For content information on OnePages, please call (202) 383-6151 or e-mail specialstaff(AT)krtinfo.com.

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A SAMPLE OF THE ARTICLE

By Ann Perry

Knight Ridder Newspapers

The good news: Shopping online for the holidays will be easier and faster than it was last year. The bad news: It's likely to cost more.

"The days of discounting have come to an end," says Heather Dougherty, a retail analyst with Jupiter Media Metrix. "We'll see a lot less of the free shipping."

Perhaps with good reason, at least from the businesses' perspective.

Many e-retailers are struggling financially and can't afford to give anything away, says Christopher M. Kelley, an analyst with Forrester Research. Some may be seeing their last holiday season. But low prices might not have mattered this season, says Kelley, because shoppers are more concerned with an e-retailer's reliability.

Following last year's holiday season, shoppers complained about slow Web sites, product unavailability and late delivery, according to a survey by BizRate.com.

The online stakes, although still a sliver of all retail sales, are growing. In the November-December holiday shopping months, sales are expected to jump 66 percent to $11.6 billion from the same period last year, according to Jupiter Communications Inc.

All retail analysts agree that online shopping is here to stay, despite the frustrations and quirks. Here's why:

_Convenience: "For families with children, it's a whole lot easier than sneaking off to the store and battling somebody for a parking space," says Kelley. Online shopping also allows shoppers to avoid commission-oriented sales staff at consumer electronic stores.

_Access: A growing number of people are able to tap into the Internet, thanks to the falling prices of personal computers and the low- to no-charge for Internet service. By the end of 2000, more than half of U.S. households will be online.

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Not for publication or retransmission without permission of KRT.

(c) 2000, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

Not for publication or retransmission without permission of KRT.