Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

But he’d better get his tookus down the chimney in four seconds or less, or he don’t get any cookies.

Emarketer projections for the 2006 online holiday shopping season are promising, with Jupiter Research predicting a record 114 million users and an increase of 18% to $32 billion in sales, but with a typically American twist: if the page takes more than 4 seconds to load, impatient online shoppers will take their business elsewhere.

But as Seana Mulcahy points out, web traffic on commercial sites in these months increases so much that there will be inevitable delays. Like trying to race up an escalator at Macy’s the day after Thanksgiving: watch out, Grandma. I guess we’ll all have to wait our turn to sit on Santa’s lap.