Commentary
Web Sites Prepared Holiday Shoppers
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 5, 2005
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, the Holiday eShopping Index saw a 29 percent increase from home on the day after Thanksgiving, garnering a unique audience of 17.2 million across more than 100 representative online retailers compared with 13.3 million on the same day last year. The Web has become a vital component in many Americans' holiday shopping preparations, concludes the report.
Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings, said "... while many shoppers headed out to the stores over the (Thanksgiving) weekend, the majority first turned to the Internet to check prices and product availability."
EBay was the top online retailer on the day after Thanksgiving, with 9.5 million unique visitors, followed by Amazon and Wal-Mart Stores, which drew 4.6 million and 3.4 million unique visitors, respectively. These same retailers led the top online shopping destinations last year on the same day and were joined this year by Circuitcity.com, Dell, and Shopzilla.com Network in the top 10.
Nielsen//NetRatings Top Online Shopping Destinations, November 25, 2005 (U.S., Home) | |||
Site | UA (000) | UA (000) | Daily Percent |
11/18/05 | 11/25/05 | Change | |
1 .eBay | 10,324 | 9,481 | -8% |
2. Amazon | 4,189 | 4,636 | 11% |
3. Wal-Mart Stores | 1,543 | 3,393 | 120% |
4. Target | 1,196 | 2,903 | 143% |
5. BestBuy.com | 1,196 | 2,098 | 75% |
6. Overstock.com | 1,092 | 1,867 | 71% |
7. Circuitcity.com | 872 | 1,761 | 102% |
8. Dell | 1,739 | 1,604 | -8% |
9. Shopping.com Network | 1,168 | 1,485 | 27% |
10. Shopzilla.com Network | 1,156 | 1,311 | 13% |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Daily Overnight Analysis, November 2005 | |||
The fastest growing retail category on the day after Thanksgiving was toys/video games, with a 152 percent week-over-week growth. Consumer electronics followed close behind, and computer hardware/software rounded out the top three.
"... the largest increases in traffic were fueled by the Xbox 360, ...portable game consoles,... flat-screen TV's, iPods and other MP3 players," said Dougherty.
Top Growth Categories on November 25, 2005 based on U.S. Home Unique Audience | |
Category | Daily Percent Change from11/18/05 to 11/25/05 |
Toys/Video Games | 151.8% |
Consumer Electronics | 142.0% |
Computer Hardware/Software | 101.8% |
Apparel | 99.0% |
Flowers and Gifts | 95.3% |
Home and Garden | 87.3% |
Shopping Comparison/Portals | 84.0% |
Jewelry | 71.3% |
Retail | 40.5% |
Books/Music/Video | 3.8% |
Total (across 10 categories) | 38.7% |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday eShopping Index, November 2005 | |
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Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.