With only two weeks to go before Christmas, buying presents is a lug priority for a lot of people. However, this year not so many people are leaving their homes to browse around the shops. These days lots of people do their shopping in the comfort of their own home with the help of the Internet.     Online shopping is becoming more and more popular for a number of reasons: prices are often lower online, you don't have to queue up in busy shops and you can buy almost any product imagin- able with just a few clicks of your mouse.     Computer trends are often man-dominated but this year women are expected to do more shop-ping on the Internet than men. It seems .that women are now more attracted to the convenience of on-line shopping than they used to be. Average spending online this Christmas by women will rise to $240 compared to the slightly lower average $233 for men, while the average spending per person on the high street is only $197. 70% of lnternet users, male and female, are now buying their Christmas gifts online.  In the past a lot of people were unwilling to shop online. Many were worried about the security of entering their card details on the Intemet and the reliability of the Internet but as shopping; online has become more widespread, these worries have begun to disappear. 45% of Internet users still do have  security worries but it hasn't slowed the ever-increasing numbers of online shoppers.     One victim of the online shopping boom is the UK high street. Christmas trading can represent up to 60% of turnover for some stores. Many companies are concerned that not enough shoppers are coming through their doors in the run-up to Christmas. As a result there are lots of special offers in the shops. Most shops traditionally have sales after Christmas but this year the bargains have come early. Why don't people browse around the shops to buy Christmas presents thus year?
Because they don't have enough time. Because Christmas is two weeks away. Because they go shopping on the lnternet. Because it isn't convenient for them to leave their houses.