By Keith Regan E-Commerce Times
12/06/01 7:16 PM PT
Jupiter found a surge in visits to so-called comparison-shopping 'bots' during the last
week, a move it attributed to increased interest in bargain-hunting.
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Visits to online shopping sites remained strong last week, up 45 percent from a year ago
and 3 percent higher than the week before, according to a report released Thursday by
Jupiter Media Metrix (Nasdaq: JMXI).
"This week's increase indicates that the momentum hasn't let up," Jupiter vice president
of media research Charles Buchwalter said. "Online retailing continues to hold the
interest of holiday shoppers."
In all, Jupiter estimated that 51.7 million unique visitors clicked to e-commerce sites
during the week ending December 2nd, well above the 35.6 million in the same week of the
2000 shopping season and up slightly from the 50.2 million visitors tracked during the
last full week of November this year.
During that previous week, which included the Thanksgiving holiday, Jupiter found a
43 percent increase over 2000 shopping traffic
levels.
Time Passages
Jupiter said the real test may be in the next two weeks leading up to the
Christmas holiday.
Online merchants have encouraged customers to shop early to help avoid the last-minute
crush that helped make the 1999 holiday season a
disaster for several e-tailers who could not
fulfill all of their late orders in time for Christmas.
Already, several promotions designed by e-tailers to get shoppers buying early have
lapsed, including a free shipping deal from
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), which again ranked as
the second-busiest shopping site behind only
eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY).
"Next week will be critical for both consumers and retailers as we approach the deadline
for Christmas orders with standard shipping rates," Jupiter senior analyst Ken Cassar
said.
Bargain Hunters
Jupiter found a surge in visits to so-called comparison-shopping "bots" during the last
week, a move it attributed to increased interest in bargain hunting.
An average of 1.5 million people visited the sites, with
BizRate.com,
DealTime.com and
MySimon.com all seeing sizeable increases in
traffic.
Jupiter also found a clear distinction in shopping patterns between men and women, with
men making up the bulk of traffic to computer sites such as TigerDirect.com, Dell.com
(Nasdaq: DELL) and
HP.com (NYSE: HWP), and women favoring apparel sites such OldNavy.com, Spiegel.com
(Nasdaq: SPGLA) and
JCPenney.com (NYSE: JCP).
Clothes Hounds
Affluent shoppers -- which Jupiter defines as those with household incomes over
US$100,000 -- favored apparel sites. Gap.com
(NYSE: GPS), for instance, attracted the most affluent shoppers, with 36 percent of all
visitors falling into that category.
LLBean.com had 33 percent of its visitors in the
affluent category.
Behind eBay and Amazon on the list of most-visited sites were BMGMusicService.com,
Symantec.com and eBay's fixed-price unit Half.com. Also in the top 10 were eShop.com,
NetFlix.com, and Toysrus.com, which is operated by Amazon.
Multichannel Groundwork Pays Off for Holiday E-tail December 05, 2001
One way that e-commerce's multichannel strategy is fulfilling its promise this
holiday season is by enabling delivery of personalized and perishable items that
are not practical for brick-and-mortar stores to carry.
Can Fun Still Sell? December 04, 2001
Although zany Web tricks are all but gone, many e-tailers are using fun in their
design and marketing approaches, hoping that a smile will lead to sales.
E-tailers: Speak Up! November 30, 2001
It is high time for e-tailing to raise its own profile, through multichannel marketing,
in-store promotions of associated Web sites, and more interactivity among channels.
Report: E-tail Traffic Up 43 Percent November 29, 2001
Jupiter analysts cautioned that the large early gains for e-tailers may not translate
into a blockbuster holiday season, because many sites are relying on aggressive
promotions to promote early buying.
E-tail Spending Rises in Third Quarter November 28, 2001
Books, one of the oldest e-commerce categories, posted a surprisingly large growth rate
according to one report, with spending rising 79 percent year-over-year to $798 million.
Study: Web Shoppers Confident About Holiday Season November 27, 2001
Online retailers are having to direct their Web marketing efforts to
both confident consumers and worried consumers, researchers say.
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