Consumers are comparing products online and doing more shopping at online retailers in an apparent concern about rising and unpredictable gasoline prices. Internet marketing trend and research analysis firm eMarketer reported that some 14 percent of U.S. consumers were doing more shopping online and that 32 percent of U.S. consumers had done or would do more online price comparison as a result of fluctuating gas prices. The eMarketer analysis was based on a June 2009 survey that the National Retail Federation had commissioned to measure consumer attitudes ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. Respondents to that survey generally planned to take fewer shopping trips (42.9 percent), shop sales more often (42.6 percent), and shop closer to...

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