Toys Continue to Top E-Commerce Lists

If the data from the Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday eCommerce Index is any indication, there should be a lot of packages arriving at a lot of homes that will make a lot of children very happy this holiday season.

Toys and games continued to dominate the categories tracked by Nielsen//NetRatings with traffic jumping 123 percent since the beginning of the holiday season (see table). Consumer electronics also maintained its popularity with shoppers, spiking 97 percent and claiming the second fastest growing category this season. Home and garden captured the No. 3 spot, as shopping visits for the category grew 82 percent.

Shopping aggregators, which include portal-affiliated sites, took the No. 4 spot, increasing nearly 81 percent from the last week in October. Rounding out the top five, apparel jumped 67 percent since the beginning of the holiday season.

The Index found that online shopping traffic surged 59 percent during the week ending Dec. 2, the biggest gain thus far for the holiday e-commerce season. Surfers conducted more than 117 million shopping visits during the week, compared to nearly 74 million visits at the beginning of the season, which Nielsen//NetRatings defines as the week ending Oct 28.

“After a solid Thanksgiving shopping week, consumers rushed back online the following week to make their holiday gift purchases, while taking advantage of the many promotions and sales,” said Lisa Strand, director and chief analyst at NetRatings. “The 59 percent growth puts shopping activity right on par with last year’s results, which jumped 62 percent for the same week in 2000.”