September's Top Internet Retailers

Internet retailing shook off its summer slumber and looks ready for the holiday shopping bonanza, according to the September E-retailing Report from PC Data.

The September E-tailing Report from PC Data showed that shoppers visited Internet retail sites in mass during the month, producing a record number of buyers at major sites and pushing leader Amazon.com over the 1 million home-based buyers mark for the month.

PC Data’s September figures indicate that 17 of the top 20 retail sites posted significant increases in projected buyers over August. This suggests that consumers, growing more comfortable with buying on the Internet, flooded back into the Web retail market after what was viewed as a relatively slow summer.

Projected E-tail Buyers
(000)
E-tail Unique Users Buy Rate
(%)
September 1999 4,768 103,462 4.61
August 1999 3,382 74,786 4.52
July 1999 2,386 74,483 3.20
June 1999 3,309 74,275 4.46
Source: PC Data Online

Figures from PC Data show that Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, Buy.com, and Ticketmaster.com reclaimed their positions as the top five Web retailers, while drugstore.com replaced Planetrx.com on the list. Newcomers to the list were Gap.com and enews.com. Gap rose 13 slots to the No. 14 rank, as a result of a tripling in its projected buyers. Enews.com jumped to No. 8 on the chart, after more than quadrupling buyers for magazine subscriptions.

“September belonged to Amazon.com,” said Cameron Meierhoefer, Internet Research Analyst at PC Data Online. “It had more buyers than its three biggest competitors combined, confirming itself as the undisputed powerhouse in online retailing. At the same time, growth for all top 20 Web retailers was across the board, and this only strengthens the outlook for Internet retailers going into this holiday season.”

According to Meierhoefer, the slow down in online retail buying during the summer was seasonal, and that October figures should confirm the continued rapid growth in online buying.

PC Data Online estimates the purchase rate based on the number of unique home-based Web users who visit a transaction-related page within each site. The information is gathered through a proprietary software tool that tracks “unique visitors” and “unique buyers” on each Web site.

Top 20 E-Tailers of September 1999
Rank Site Projected No.
of Purchasers

(000)
Reach
(%)
Unique Users
(000)
Purchase
Rate

(%)
1. amazon.com 1,097 19.1 12,256 9.0
2. drugstore.com 362 2.9 1,860 19.5
3. barnesandnoble.com 347 6.7 4,298 8.1
4. buy.com 316 3.8 2,423 13.0
5. ticketmaster.com 282 4.1 2,639 10.7
6. hallmark.com 169 0.4 914 18.4
7. mothernature.com 164 2.3 1,502 10.9
8. enews.com 153 4.6 2,947 5.2
9. planetrx.com 151 2.1 1,366 11.0
10. gateway.com 146 3.4 2,198 6.7
11. cdnow.com 143 10.2 6,545 2.2
12. chipshot.com 112 0.7 446 25.2
13. beyond.com 105 4.3 2,741 3.8
14. gap.com 101 1.5 970 10.4
15. bigstar.com 100 2.0 1,275 7.8
16. dvdexpress.com 84 0.9 601 14.0
17. yahoo.com 81 56.6 36,254 0.2
18. officemax.com 71 1.6 1,044 6.8
19. etoys.com 69 2.2 1,403 4.9
20. staples.com 69 1.1 711 9.7
Source: PC Data Online

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource