"The 2004 online holiday shopping season has proved highly successful,
with virtually every indicator showing growth. From spikes in merchant
categories to new shopping phenomena like 'Black Monday,' we continue to
observe the impact the online marketplace has on traditional shopping-behavior
patterns," said Trevor Healy, vice president of payment services, VeriSign.
"Through the online data we collected, we have seen clear changes in consumer
behavior such as accelerated weekday shopping activity, more confidence in
buying digital goods from e-commerce sites, an increase in gift-certificate
purchases as well as the direct impact of shipping lead times on sales."
    VeriSign's latest statistics are based on the analysis of online sales
volume processed through VeriSign Payment Services, which comprises more than
35 percent of all North American e-commerce and represents in excess of
120,000 online retailers.

    Full Category Comparisons
    VeriSign tracks year-over-year merchant activity in key e-commerce
categories. Significant findings this year include the following figures from
Thanksgiving 2004 through the Monday following Christmas (Monday,
December 27, 2004), as compared to the equivalent time period in 2003
(Thanksgiving 2003 through Monday, December 29, 2003):

    -- Online transactions for the electronics category increased 17 percent
       for the entire holiday shopping season as compared to 2003. This
       category picked up steam from a four percent increase as of
       December 12, 2004 and a 12 percent increases as of December 19, 2004.
       The category also carried an average ticket price of $291, the highest
       average price across all categories.
    -- Online transactions for the apparel category increased 45 percent for
       the entire holiday shopping season as compared to 2003. Women's apparel
       represented the largest portion of this category, accounting for
       40 percent of the total sales this season. Women's apparel also showed
       the highest increase in average ticket price, increasing 28 percent to
       $140 this year as compared to the 2003 online holiday shopping season.
    -- Online transactions for the entertainment category (music and video
       downloads) increased 54 percent for the entire holiday shopping season
       as compared to 2003.
    -- Online transactions related to the photo-printing-and-sharing category
       increased 120 percent for the entire holiday shopping season as
       compared to 2003. This was the fastest growing of all categories
       tracked during the 2004 holiday season.
    -- Online transactions for the general retail category increased
       24 percent for the entire holiday shopping season as compared to 2003.
       The Kitchen-and-Housewares subcategory held the highest share of this
       category at 28 percent. Kitchen-and-Housewares also held one of the
       season's highest average ticket prices at $148 -- second only to the
       electronics category.

    Spending Patterns
    -- Consistent with previously observed consumer online shopping behavior,
       Monday again was the busiest shopping day of the week. Monday,
       December 20, 2004, the peak online shopping day from the week,
       accounted for 4.8 million transactions, representing more than
       23 percent of the week's activity.
    -- In the "brick-and-mortar" world, retailers expect that December 26, the
       day after Christmas, will draw a large number of consumers to their
       stores. This year, December 26 fell on a Sunday, a day of the week with
       historically low online shopping activity. Therefore, the equivalent
       spike in online shopping activity occurred on Monday,
       December 27, 2004, the first weekday following Christmas. The total
       volume of transactions recorded on December 27, 2004 was 3.8 million, a
       61 percent increase as compared to Friday, December 26, 2003 (the first
       weekday following Christmas in 2003). This also represented an eight
       percent increase as compared to Monday, December 29, 2003 (the first
       Monday following Christmas 2003).
    -- The total amount spent from Thanksgiving 2004 through Monday,
       December 27, 2004 was $8.8 billion, a $1.7 billion -- or 24 percent
       -- increase in sales as compared to the same period in 2003 (Thursday,
       November 27, 2003 to Monday, December 29, 2003).
    -- The average sale amount during the time-period from Thanksgiving 2004
       through Monday, December 27, 2004 was $145, a 12 percent increase as
       compared to the same time period in 2003 (Thursday, November 27, 2003
       to Monday, December 29, 2003). The average ticket price reached a high
       of $178 on Wednesday, December 22, 2004.

    VeriSign's ability to correlate intelligence gathered across the Internet
enables the company to identify market trends such as changes in Internet
shopping patterns that may impact vendors with an online presence. As such, in
addition to reporting on the week of December 20, VeriSign also issued data
collected during the week of December 6 and December 13, which can be found
at: http://www.verisign.com/verisign-inc/news-and-events/news-archive/us-news-
2004/page_020992.html and http://www.verisign.com/verisign-inc/news-and-
events/news-archive/us-news-2004/page_021992.html, respectively.
Additionally, on November 30, VeriSign issued e-commerce statistics regarding
the impact of online shopping on traditional brick-and-mortar retail shopping
events such as the Friday after Thanksgiving, commonly known as "Black
Friday." These statistics are currently available at:
http://www.verisign.com/verisign-inc/news-and-events/news-archive/us-news-
2004/page_019494.html.

    About VeriSign
    VeriSign, Inc. operates intelligent infrastructure services that enable
individuals and businesses to find, connect, secure, and transact across
today's complex global networks. Additional news and information about the
company is available at http://www.verisign.com.

    Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information
constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's
actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such
forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include,
among others; the ability of VeriSign to successfully develop and market new
services and customer acceptance of any new services; the risk that VeriSign's
announced strategic relationships may not result in additional products,
services, customers and revenues; increased competition and pricing pressures.
More information about potential factors that could affect the company's
business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 and quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the
forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.