Dot-Coms Turn to Newspaper Ads

"Relax, Amazon.com makes gift giving easier," the full-color supplement reads.

USA Weekend magazine includes an insert from Yahoo Shopping dubbed the "holiday online shopping guide." The Web address shopping.yahoo.com is shown prominently in Yahoo’s trademark yellow and purple lettering.

For decades, retailers have depended on the fat newspaper ads that appear just after Thanksgiving to jump-start shopping. Consumers are well trained to read them, too.

Advertising in a Sunday newspaper is decidedly low tech, but e-commerce giants found themselves in a hotly competitive battle with "brick and mortar" retailers to lure fickle shoppers this holiday season.

The dot-com ads in print are also a sign that Internet shopping has come of age for many consumers. Amazon’s print supplement, for example, doesn’t explain how to shop online – it merely makes a vague reference to "1-Click ordering."

Traditional retailers aren’t ignoring the Internet, either.

Best Buy’s 32 page shopping insert painstakingly lists the addresses of its local stores, but also points customers to its Web site at BestBuy.com.

- New England Newspaper Association