Holiday Shopping on Overstock.com Peaks One Week Later Than Usual

Holiday Shopping on Overstock.com Peaks One Week Later Than Usual

More Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers Avoid Malls, Go Online

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com(R) (NASDAQ:OSTK) today announced that sales for the holiday season peaked yesterday -- a full week later than in previous years -- and that Thursday, December 16, was the largest day in the company's history.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030520/LATU020LOGO-a)

Patrick Byrne, president of Overstock.com, said the trend is significant. "Sales historically peak around Dec. 10 and taper off from there. This year we organized our supply chain to cater to last minute shoppers and have been communicating that fact to consumers. The fact that business has continued to swell so late in the month suggests to me that last-minute shoppers, who have traditionally flocked to the malls in the last days before Christmas, are increasingly going online. This phenomenon may be the reason why some market tracking firms have recently increased their projections for online holiday spending this year."

It was reported yesterday, for example, that comScore now expects online spending in the fourth quarter to exceed $20 billion.

Byrne explained how Overstock.com chose this year to cater to last-minute shoppers. "For thousands of products, orders placed by noon Mountain Time on Dec. 22 can be delivered by Christmas for $1. For really late shoppers, we offer free e-card gift notification."

More information about Overstock.com's expedited holiday shipping is available at www.overstock.com.

The most popular items purchased by last-minute shoppers include jewelry, watches, books, and DVDs, he said.

Byrne added, "Investors should keep in mind that this announcement is not intended to suggest what our overall results will be for the fourth quarter, but, rather, to communicate new market trends we're seeing this holiday season."

About Overstock.com

Overstock.com Inc. is an online "closeout" retailer offering discount, brand-name merchandise for sale over the Internet, as well as an online auction. The company offers its customers an opportunity to shop for bargains conveniently, while offering its suppliers an alternative inventory liquidation distribution channel. Overstock.com is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ National Market System, headquartered in Salt Lake City, and can be found online at www.overstock.com.

Overstock.com is a registered trademark of Overstock.com, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the strength of the holiday shopping season, holiday shopping trends, the company's ability to deliver items by a certain date, and such other risks as identified in our Form 10- K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and all our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain and identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030520/LATU020LOGO-a
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Overstock.com, Inc.

CONTACT: media, Scott Blevins, +1-801-947-3133, sblevins@overstock.com,
or investors, Kathryn Huang Hadley, +1-801-947-3282, khuang@overstock.com,
both of Overstock.com, Inc.

Web site: http://www.overstock.com/


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