This holiday season, more consumers will purchase gifts online than ever before -- but only about half of those buyers will get the best deals available through the Web. According to a recent Harris Interactive survey, commissioned by NexTag.com, the fastest growing independent comparison shopping site, 66% of U.S. adults with Web access said they will purchase at least one gift online this year and 22% expect to do more shopping online than they did last holiday season. However, only 58% of those surveyed said they are likely to visit a comparison shopping website to ensure they get the best possible deal by quickly and easily comparing prices on tens of millions of products and services.

While more consumers understand the value and convenience of online shopping than ever before, it can still be daunting to wade through the thousands of Web retailers to find the perfect gift at the most attractive price. Fortunately, there are now online tools and resources available to accelerate the shopping process and help shoppers save even more time and hassle than just avoiding overcrowded malls. Online comparison shopping sites eliminate the need to separately visit several merchant sites to find the best deal by quickly collecting and presenting price and feature comparisons for a specific product or service from multiple retailers.