BERWYN, Pa., September 25, 2008 – With inflation, rising unemployment, and high gasoline prices creating a financial strain, consumers may be especially discretionary in their discretionary spending during the holiday shopping season. Even so, they are likely to increasingly patronize retailers with strong e-commerce businesses. That’s the conclusion of the latest Sector Focus commentary by four consumer-sector analysts at Turner Investment Partners.

In the commentary, E-commerce: cure for retailers’ holiday blahs?, authors Jillian Batten, security analyst; Bill McVail, senior portfolio manager/security analyst; Halie O’Shea, security analyst/portfolio manager; and Jason Schrotberger, security analyst/portfolio manager, note that while retailers’ in-store sales have been up only modestly, online sales have been rising at a double-digit annualized rate – making e-commerce the fastest growing segment of retailing.

The analysts observe that shoppers have been gravitating toward the Internet for two main reasons: 1) they’re finding the best bargains and a broad selection of merchandise online and 2) they save gasoline and time by buying online instead of at the mall. "About 70% of consumers did at least a portion of their holiday shopping on the Web last year," they note. "And we think even more consumers will do so (and spend about 15% more online) this year."

In anticipation of holiday shopping, many retailers are expanding and upgrading their Web sites, adding features proven to stimulate sales such as product videos, customer reviews and ratings, personalized shopping recommendations, and social-networking blogs.

Exploiting these and other Web-savvy marketing tools, four retailers appear to be especially well-positioned to benefit from the growth in e-commerce, according to the authors: Amazon.com, Kohl’s, Staples, and Urban Outfitters.

To read this September 2008 Sector Focus in its entirety, see the Turner Investment Partners Web site, http://www.turnerinvestments.com/SectorFocus. Or call 484-329-2439 for a free copy of the piece.

The views expressed represent the opinions of Turner Investment Partners as of the date indicated and may change. They are not intended as a forecast, a guarantee of future results, investment recommendations, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Opinions about individual securities mentioned may change, and there can be no guarantee that Turner will select and hold any particular security for its client portfolios. Earnings growth may not result in an increase in share price. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Turner Investment Partners, founded in 1990 and based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, is an investment firm that manages more than $26 billion in stocks in separately managed accounts and mutual funds for institutions and individuals, as of June 30, 2008.

As of August 31, 2008, Turner held in client accounts 1.8 million shares of Amazon.com, 4.7 million shares of Kohl’s, 9.9 million shares of Staples, and 4.7 million shares of Urban Outfitters.