Computer Sites See E-Holiday Surge

Computers passed books to become the No. 1 e-tail category this week as e-commerce Web sites enjoyed a record number of holiday visitors, according to the latest tracking survey from Jupiter Media Metrix.

The Media Metrix Online Shopping Index for the week ended December 3rd was 31.2 percent higher than the same week last year, rising to 35.6 million unique visitors.

The index, which measures home and work Web visits to almost 400 e-tail sites and 18 retail sub-categories, registered faster growth than the entire Web during the same period, as overall Internet use rose 12.0 percent, Media Metrix said.

Computers on Top

Computer sites saw an average of 2.3 million unique visitors each day, with three of them -- HP.com, McAfee.com and Symantec.com -- listed among the top five gainers for the week.

"Despite recent fears about slowing PC sales, computer-retail sites are among the most popular online destinations this holiday season," said Media Metrix measurement analyst Anne Rickert.

Rickert commented that holiday discounts on items including computers, software and digital cameras are luring buyers.

A number of computer makers, including Dell, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Gateway, have warned in recent days that slower than expected holiday sales will lead to weak results for the current quarter. Promotional deals aimed at attracting customers cut into revenue, the companies said.

Holiday Surge

Overall, online sales appear to be strong this holiday season. A study published last week by Goldman Sachs & Co. and PC Data Online found that shoppers plan to buy a greater percentage of their holiday gifts online than they did last year, although stores remain the preferred venue.

A separate study from Goldman and PC Data found that Americans spent US$1.3 billion online during the week that included Thanksgiving, up 140 percent over the same week last year.

Goldman analyst Anthony Noto predicts holiday e-tail sales will end up totaling double last year's levels. Other projections range from $9 billion from the Yankee Group to $12.5 billion from eMarketer and the NPD Group.

Thanksgiving Record

Media Metrix's own index last week, including the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, registered a record 35.2 million unique visitors to e-tail Web sites, a 40.3 percent increase over a year earlier.

In this week's index, Internet powerhouse Amazon.com, with an average of 1.6 million unique visitors each day, and loyalty-reward site Mypoints.com, with 1.4 million, were the top two retail sites for the second week in a row, Media Metrix said.

Toys also entered the top ten this week, with eToys.com landing the No. 9 spot with 338,000 average daily unique visitors. There were no toy sites among the most trafficked last week.

The biggest gainers this week were fragrances/cosmetics and food, posting week-over-week increases of 35.4 percent and 31.3 percent, respectively.