Boston, MA, September 13, 2006 - It's long been talked about and a recent survey commissioned by SmartBargains.com and conducted by Harris Interactive® confirms it: U.S. women really love their shoes. But for many women, this "shoe addiction" comes at a cost. Twenty-five percent of all women said they have felt guilty about the money they've spent on shoes. With the launch of its online shoe store, SmartBargains.com is removing the guilt from this guilty pleasure-by offering the most popular brands in the latest colors and most current styles of the season for 35 to 50 percent less than those at major department and specialty stores. SmartBargains.com's team of personal bargain hunters constantly scour the globe for the best assortment of the season's most current brands and looks.

"Buying new shoes can be fun and even therapeutic, so it's not surprising that so many women can't get enough of them," said Shari Shakun, vice president, general merchandise manager of softlines for SmartBargains.com. "However for women who see shoe shopping as an indulgence, there can often be a guilt factor as well. Thanks to SmartBargains.com, women can satisfy their cravings for the latest styles at prices they won't regret later."

Better Than Sex Several women indicated that they would be willing to sacrifice some of life's other simple pleasures such as chocolate (36 percent) or eating dinner out (37 percent) for a really great pair of shoes. And, nearly a quarter of all women (22 percent) would be willing to give up sex!

Sizing Each Other Up A majority (57 percent) of all women said they have judged other women by their shoes. This is especially true among college graduates (70 percent) and women with a household income of over $75,000 or higher (68 percent).

"Shoes can be a great form of expression-the more original the choice, the more a woman's individual personality can shine through," adds Shakun. "SmartBargains.com is pleased to offer women hundreds of affordable choices-in the most current styles available-from the comfort and convenience of their own computers."

Symptoms of Addiction

The survey also found that:

* Nine percent of all women have gone so far at to lie to their significant other about the money they've spent on shoes. * Twenty-five percent of women said they shop for shoes about every two to three months, with students reporting a relatively high frequency of shoe shopping.
* Eighty-one percent of students are shopping for shoes at least once every six months, and 23 percent are shopping for shoes monthly. * Fifty-six percent of women indicated that they have between 10 to 30 pairs of shoes currently in their closets. * Ninety-two percent of all women said they would drive up to an hour away to get a great deal on shoes.

Walk Away With a Free Pair of Shoes In celebration of the launch of its online shoe store, SmartBargains.com is offering a shoe-a-day-giveaway promotion* starting now through October 31st. Simply log on to www.smartbargains.com/winshoes to play, and have a chance to walk away with a free pair of shoes. All participants will automatically be entered into a grand prize drawing to win free shoes for a year.

Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of SmartBargains.com among 1,357 adult women (aged 18 and over) within the United States between July 19 and 21, 2006. Figures for age within gender, education, income, race/ethnicity and region were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

With a pure probability sample of 1,357 adults one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 4 percentage points. Sampling error for sub-samples is higher and varies. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.