Index shows major growth in online shopping

[December 10th 2001]

Jupiter Media Metrix has released the second installment of its weekly Holiday 2001 E-Commerce Series, revealing the most comprehensive online retail results for the week ending Dec. 2, 2001. The Jupiter Media Metrix Online Shopping Index, which aggregates Web visitors from both home and work to nearly 500 shopping sites and 19 subcategories, increased 45 percent versus the same week last year, climbing from 35.6 million to 51.7 million unique visitors. Moreover, the index was up 3 percent versus the previous week, when it had 50.2 million visitors.

"After last week's strong kick-off to the online holiday shopping season, many were wondering what week two would bring," said Charles Buchwalter, vice president, media research, Jupiter Media Metrix. "This week's increase indicates that the momentum hasn't let up. Online retailing continues to hold the interest of holiday shoppers."

"Retailers' early-purchase incentives, such as free delivery for early orders, have contributed to a solid start to the holiday shopping season," said Ken Cassar, senior Jupiter Research analyst. "Next week will be critical for both consumers and retailers as we approach the deadline for Christmas orders with standard shipping rates."

Jupiter Media Metrix 2001 Holiday E-Commerce Series Highlights:

• Shopping Bots -- With more people looking for online deals this holiday season, shopping bots were visited by 1.5 million average daily visitors the week ending Dec. 2, up 19 percent versus the previous week. Top bots according to average daily visitors include: Bizrate.com with 716,000, up 19 percent versus the prior week; Dealtime.com with 430,000, up 29 percent; and Mysimon.com with 217,000, up 17 percent.

• Where Males and Females Shop -- Males are more likely to visit computer and electronic retailers. Males composed 83 percent, 71 percent, 66 percent and 64 percent, respectively, of TigerDirect.com, Dell.com, HP.com and Compusa.com for the week ending Dec. 2. Conversely, women skew toward apparel sites. Women composed 70 percent, 70 percent and 69 percent, respectively, of Oldnavy.com, Spiegel.com and Jcpenny.com.

• Apparel Sites Attract the Affluent -- Among the 75 most highly trafficked shopping sites, Gap.com, with 36 percent, has the highest percentage of visitors with household incomes over $100,000. Other leading apparel sites also are popular among this income break: 33 percent of visitors to LLBean.com, 29 percent of visitors to EddieBauer.com and 24 percent of visitors to LandsEnd.com have household incomes greater than $100,000.

• Top Gaining Sites -- The top three sites in week two of the Online Shopping Index, ranked according to their percent gain in average daily visitors versus the prior week, include: Symantec.com, which increased 294 percent to 343,000; Netflix.com, which increased 130 percent to 352,000 and Bmgmusicservice.com, which increased 100 percent to 635,000. The top sites according to their increase in total average daily visitors versus the previous week are: Ebay.com, which grew by 740,000 to 4.7 million; Amazon.com, which grew 604,000 to 2.9 million; and Bmgmusicservice.com, which grew by 318,000 to 635,000.

• Notable Category Gainers -- Shopping categories with notable percent gains in traffic versus the previous week include: movies, which increased 41 percent to 1.4 million average daily unique visitors; music, which increased 40 percent to 2.3 million average daily unique visitors; and apparel sites, which increased 30 percent to 1.6 million average daily unique visitors. Increased traffic to the movie category was driven largely by Netflix.com and Columbia House Sites, which increased 130 percent to 352,000 average daily visitors and 47 percent to 740,000 average daily visitors, respectively. The music category was driven largely by Bmgmusicservice.com, which climbed 100 percent to 635,000 average daily visitors. The apparel category was driven primarily by gains in average daily visitors at mass-market retailers: Gap.com, which increased 74 percent to 148,000; Landsend.com, which increased 66 percent to 139,000; and Oldnavy.com, which increased 25 percent to 156,000.

Jupiter Outlook on the 2001 Holiday Season

Jupiter analysts predict that 2001 holiday online retail and travel sales will reach approximately $11.9 billion -- an 11 percent increase over last year's $10.8 billion. Although growth this season will be slower than last, Jupiter analysts expect to see more people shopping online and consumers allocating a greater percentage of their holiday budget to online shopping.

Links
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