"A" is for Amazon

When Ernst & Young surveyed shoppers to see where they shopped online for the holidays, they said Amazon. When Media Metrix looked at its data for the Web's most visited retailers, it said Amazon. In fact, most of the holiday traffic seems to have gone to the big names.

Percentage of Respondents Shopping
at a Site and Average Amount Spent
Site Percent Shopping
at Site
Average Amount
Spent at Site
Amazon.com 42.1 $128
eToys 20.3 $127
ToysRUs 19.4 $134
Barnes&Noble.com 16.9 $63
Buy.com 16.1 $111
CDnow 14.3 $69
KBToys 14.3 $89
eBay 12.5 $152
J.C. Penney 9.8 $151
Drugstore.com 7.2 $38
PlanetRX.com 5.4 $33
Land’s End 5.2 $133
Columbia House 4.9 $71
Petsmart 4.9 $38
Reel.com 4.9 $72
Disney 4.6 $172
Egghead.com 4.3 $217
Iqvc 4.1 $151
1800flowers.com 3.9 $173
Best Buy 3.7 $233
Borders 3.3 $69
LL Bean 3.3 $138
Walmart 2.9 $167
Source: Ernst & Young

A post-holiday online retailing survey by Ernst & Young found that 26 percent of those polled made an online purchase during the holidays, and that the number of women who shopped online outpaced men during the holidays.

The survey, which polled 1,283 Internet users, also found that while the sites most-visited by Internet shoppers are consistent with previous findings, a different set of winners is revealed when reviewing the average dollar amount spent at these sites. For example, Amazon.com was the No. 1 shopping destination for 42 percent of online shoppers during the 1999 holiday season, followed by eToys.com (20 percent), Toys R Us (19 percent), Barnesandnoble.com (17 percent), and Buy.com (16 percent). The top sites by average dollar amount spent are Best Buy ($233), Egghead.com ($217), 1800flowers.com ($173), Disney ($172), and Walmart ($167).

“Whenever we ask online shoppers where they make their purchases, Amazon.com comes up again and again as number one,” said Stephanie Shern, Ernst & Young’s Global Director of Retail & Consumer Products. “This new data, however, reveals that online shoppers are spending their money across a variety of online retailers and categories. The purchases made online are broad-based and many Internet retailers are enjoying a successful season.”

Ernst & Young’s survey found that, on average, online shoppers spent $1,225 on Internet purchases during the last 12 months, with 60 percent spending at least $500. Most (87 percent) said the total dollar amount they spent increased over the previous 12 months in online purchases.

“Given this new data, we are updating our estimate for online holiday sales in 1999 to $10-$13 billion,” said Shern. “Considering the dramatic increase in the number of Internet sites and merchandise available, plus the broad-based success among these retailers, our estimate of total revenue for calendar year 1999 remains at $25-$30 billion.”

According to Web measurement firm Media Metrix, the number of visitors to e-commerce sites was highest the second week of December (week ending 12/12/99). E-commerce traffic increased 27 percent during Christmas week (week ending 12/26/99) compared to the same week last year (week ending 12/27/98). Top unique visitor growth categories included greeting cards and gaming sites, which increased significantly during Christmas week.

Top 25 E-Commerce Sites for 1999 Holiday Season
Rank Site Avg. Unique
Visitors for Season*

(000)
1. Amazon.com 5,693
2. ebay.com 4,073
3. Etoys.com 1,662
4. Barnesandnoble.com 1,522
5. Toysrus.com 1,486
6. Buy.com 1,427
7. CDnow.com 1,416
8. Egreetings.com 1,116
9. Expedia 1,019
10. Travelocity.com 934
11. Egghead.com Sites 900
12. Kbkids.com 799
13. bmgmusicservice.com 782
14. Bonzi.com 674
15. Americangreetings.com 638
16. Beyond.com 623
17. Shopnow.com sites 619
18. Ticketmaster 597
19. Jcpenney.com 594
20. Dell.com 582
21. overstock.com 549
22. Compaq.com 522
23. Shopping.com 515
24. Columbiahouse.com 513
25. Priceline.com 500
* Average Daily Unique Visitors is the seven-day average number of different individuals that accessed a Web site.
Holiday season measured is from 11/22/99-12/26/99
Source: Media Metrix

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