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Americans Flooded Online Stores Last Month
"RESTON, Va. -- Some 128 million consumers, or 80% of the U.S. Internet population, visited Web sites in the Retail category in November, reports comScore Media Metrix. Retail sites, such as those operated by KB Toys, Best Buy and Toys"R"Us, dominated this month's top gaining properties ranking, with monthly increases ranging from 45% to 155%."Consumers will spend more than $15 billion online this holiday season, but the Web's impact on retail extends far beyond its application as a direct selling medium," said Peter Daboll, president and chief executive officer of comScore Media Metrix. "Tens of millions of Americans use the Internet to research products that they ultimately buy offline, helping make the shopping process more efficient and convenient than ever before."Eight of November's top 10 gaining categories were Retail subcategories. The Jewelry, Luxury Goods & Accessories category led the way, with an increase in visitation of nearly 40% compared to October. In November, more than 13 million Americans visited this category, in which each of the top 10 sites saw double-digit percentage increases. Jewelry & Watches is the fastest growing product category measured by actual online sales in the year-to-date through Dec. 12. So far this year, consumers have spent $1.35 billion in the category, an increase of 58% compared to the corresponding period last year, the report found.Parents desperately hunting for this year's hard-to-find toys turned to Toys category sites in droves last month. Nearly 22 million Americans visited the category, an increase of 24% compared to October and 14% compared to November 2003. Category leader Toys "R" Us saw traffic jump 68% from October to November to 9.6 million visitors. KBToys jumped 155% to 3.2 million visitors, making it the top gaining property in November.The Department Stores category, which includes such well-known traditional retailers as Wal-Mart, Target, JCPenney, Sears and Kohl's, was up 21% between October and November 2004 and 29% compared to last November. A comScore analysis revealed that aggregate holiday spending at the Web sites of 25 major multi-channel retailers is up more than 50%, a level of growth more than twice that of total online retail (23%).The two non-retail categories that ranked among top 10 gaining categories in November were Hobbies/Lifestyles-Food and e-Cards. Nearly 34 million Americans visited the Food category in search of Thanksgiving recipes and other meal planning tips. The top four sites in the category, FoodNetwork.com, KraftFoods.com, AllRecipes.com and About Food all saw traffic increase 20% or more. The e-Cards category saw a 12% increase in traffic, driven primarily by a substantial pickup in visitation to category leader American Greetings. The site drew 13.5 million visitors in November, an increase of 27% over October.The holiday season provided the impetus for several notable changes in the Top 50 property ranking. Best Buy shot up 55 spots to place it at No. 20 in November, bolstered by the nearly 10 million visitors that visited the retailer's BestBuyGiftFinder.com site.Among sites in the Top 50 Properties in both October and November, Target Corp. had the largest jump, moving up 15 spots to number 25. Sears posted a similar 15-spot gain to move into the Top 50 at No. 39. Overstock.com (November's No. 31), Shopping.com Sites (No. 22) and Sony Online (No. 37) gained 10, 6 and 6 spots, respectively.AmericanGreetings Property received a 27% boost from holiday e- cards, moving it 12 spots to number 38. Thanksgiving traffic to FoodNetwork.com helped E.W. Scripps post a 27% month-over-month gain, as well as a 24% gain from last November, to finish in the No. 40 spot with 13.2 million visitors.Visit comScore Media Metrix: www.comscore.com"