HARRIS INTERACTIVE SURVEY REVEALS B2C E-COMMERCE SALES
HOLDING STEADY AT $7 BILLION IN FIRST QUARTER 2000

Study of More than 100,000 Online Users Finds Hot Holiday Markets Cooling,
eBay Surging and Amazon Sliding Slightly

Rochester, NY, April 27, 2000 – Harris Interactive (Nasdaq: HPOL), a leading Internet-based market research firm, today released preliminary findings from its e.commercePulse^SM survey for the first quarter of 2000. The survey, the most comprehensive study of online consumers, found that consumers spent an estimated $7 billion online in the first quarter of 2000, the same amount they spent in the fourth quarter of 1999. An additional estimated $13.8 billion were spent by phone and in stores as a result of online shopping, a drop of more than $2 billion from Q4. Although total online revenues stayed the same, the prevalence of online buying spread, as the estimated number of monthly online buyers rose 15%, from 23.3 million to 26.8 million.

The hot holiday markets—Toys, Clothing/Apparel and Electronics—all saw revenues drop during the first quarter, while Auctions, Health/Beauty and Travel Services showed strong improvement. eBay continued to build its dominance in Auctions and extended its influence to other markets, while Amazon’s revenue shares dipped across the board.

"Clothing, electronics and especially toys all saw their online sales more than double during the holiday season but fall in Q1," said Harris Interactive Director of E.Commerce Research Lori Iventosch-James. "These drops are not just a function of decreased post-holiday demand; they illustrate that online retailers face the same challenges traditional retailers face in sustaining themselves at other times of the year."

Toy sites as a whole saw the greatest drop in quarterly revenues, 61%, from $379 million to $147 million. Electronics revenues fell 24% to $287 million and revenues for Clothing/Apparel dipped 17% to $619 million. Auction sites, health and beauty sites, and sites that sell travel services showed the greatest increase in quarterly revenues. Largely on the continuing success of eBay.com, an estimated $644 million were spent online at auction sites in Q1, up 33% from the fourth quarter. Health and Beauty revenues grew by 28% to $153 million and consumers spent an estimated $2 billion at online Travel Service sites in Q1, an increase of 25% from Q4.

The "veterans" of e-commerce—computers, books and music/videos—all showed steady growth in the first quarter. Revenues for Computer Hardware/Peripherals climbed more than $100 million, or 14%, to $852 million, and those for Computer Software rose 10% to $257 million. Book revenues jumped 12% to $461 million, while Music/Video revenues were up 8% to $340 million. Consumers also spent $195 million on online flowers, gifts and cards and $82 million on home and garden items, two markets being tracked for the first time by Harris Interactive e.commercePulse. Revenues from Fitness and Sports Equipment remained steady at $69 million.

eBay posted very strong numbers in the first quarter, and not just in the Auctions category. It expanded its leading transaction share in Auctions and also emerged as the top site for online electronics, was third in Toys and was fourth in Flowers/Gifts/Cards.

"eBay’s performance beyond the Auction space is one of the biggest stories of the quarter," said Iventosch-James. "Consumers are now thinking of eBay as a full-service e-commerce site."

Activity atop the other markets:

• Amazon.com still held the majority of the Book market, but its share dropped from its fourth quarter high.

• JCPenney.com held steady as the leader in online Clothing/Apparel.
• Dell.com (Gigabuys.com) built its lead in Computer Hardware/Peripherals.
• Dell (Gigabuys) saw its lead in Computer Software dwindle, however, as Microsoft.com—despite the DOJ ruling—and Intuit.com, makers of tax time savers Quicken and TurboTax, closed in.
• Quixtar.com continued to lead the Health/Beauty market, but Drugstore.com is closing the gap.
• ColumbiaHouse.com returned to the top of the online Music/Video market, after having been ousted by Amazon in Q4. CDNow and BMG.com also improved their positions in the market.
• ToysRUs.com again edged out eToys.com in the online Toys market, despite high customer dissatisfaction over the holidays. Nevertheless, because of slowed activity in the online toy market, both companies saw online revenues drop in Q1.
• Priceline.com climbed to the top of the online Travel Services market, inching out Southwest, the previous category leader.
• In categories new to e.commercePulse, 1800flowers.com dominated the Flowers/Gifts/Cards market, while Fingerhut.com, Furniture.com and Homedepot.com topped the Home/Garden market.

Harris Interactive’s e.commercePulse is a tracking study of the online and offline shopping and purchasing behaviors and attitudes of over 100,000 adult online respondents each quarter. Using Harris Interactive’s web-based technology, the survey for the first quarter of 2000 was conducted online with 112,296 adult online users between February 4 and April 3, 2000, and covered 268 e-commerce Web sites in 13 vertical markets.

Harris Interactive (Nasdaq: HPOL), a leading global market research firm, uses Internet-based and traditional methodologies to provide its clients with information about the views, experiences, behaviors and attitudes of people worldwide. Known for its Harris Poll, Harris Interactive has over 40 years experience in providing its clients with market research and polling services including custom, multi-client and service bureau research, as well as customer relationship management services. Through its US and Global Network offices, Harris Interactive conducts research in over 85 different countries in more than 30 different languages. Harris Interactive uses its proprietary technology to survey its database of more than 6.2 million online panelists. For more information about Harris Interactive, please visit our Web site at http://www.harrisinteractive.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This media release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking information. We caution you that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Additional detailed information concerning a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ is readily available in the "Risk Factors" section of our Prospectus, dated December 6, 1999 and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933.