Tax Sites Attract More Than 22 Million
- by Masha Geller , April 6, 2003
Reaching more than 17% of the active online population from home and work, more Americans than ever are leveraging Internet tax resources to download forms, gather information, and file their taxes.
The online tax services sector continues to expand its reach, NetRatings said. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service led the group, attracting 10.1 million unique visitors from home and work, a 25% increase year-to-year. TurboTax garnered the second largest unique audience with 6.8 million visitors, representing a 20% increase in traffic from the same period in 2002. HRBlock.com drew close to three million surfers. TaxAct.com, offering a lower priced alternative to the big named services, posted more than two million unique visitors. Rounding out the top five was H&R Block's wholly owned online alternative TaxCut.com, with 1.7 million unique visitors.
"In comparison to the overall finance, insurance and investment category, the online tax services segment continues to post above average unique audience growth," said Patrick Thomas, Nielsen//NetRatings' senior Internet analyst.
"Much of the growth is being generated by taxpayers without extensive online tenure who are turning to the Web for the first time to file their taxes," added Thomas. "This suggests a market opportunity for financial companies with minimal tax services offerings to convert these online tax-filers into consumers of other online financial products and services."
Among the top online tax services, households earning between $25K-$49,999K and $50K-$74,999K comprised the highest compositions, making up roughly 60-65% of the total audience. Surfers with higher household incomes in the $100K+ range represented much less.
"Computer based software and Internet tax preparation services have changed the way Americans prepare their taxes," said Thomas. "It's become an easy and affordable option for many surfers within the middle income brackets who most often put a premium on ease of completion and know the Internet can also help them get their refund quickly."
NetRatings also reports that after a dip during the week ending March 23, traffic from home to various ecommerce sites jumped during the week ending March 30, as spring sales and promotions drew shoppers back online.
Traffic to Tupperware.com skyrocketed 120% to 404,000 surfers as shoppers flocked to the site to take advantage of Tupperware's Spring Savings Event. Kohls.com attracted 423,000 unique visitors, increasing traffic by 29%. Bedbathbeyond.com and Macy's both jumped 25% in traffic to 192,000 and 227,000 surfers, respectively. Top pages for both sites were gift registry pages, where surfers could access registries online. Wal-Mart's site drew nearly 1.4 million surfers, rounding out the top five.
"With wedding season around the corner and a number of sites featuring spring sales and promotions, we're seeing activity at many of the top Web merchants," said Lisa Strand, director and chief analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "After a dip in activity during the past two weeks, surfers are coming back online to shop. Without the hassle of long lines and crowds, the Web makes shopping at multiple stores convenient."
Elsewhere on the web, traffic to Aljazeera.net spiked 55% at home for the week ending March 30, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Of the 391,000 visitors to the site, 32% logged on to the newly launched www.english.aljazeera.net. Aljazeera.net also attracted 463,000 unique visitors at work, with 49% of its audience visiting the English version of the site.
Additionally, with the release of the highly anticipated Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, traffic to Nintendo.com jumped 77%, at home, for the week ending March 23rd. The site attracted 272,000 unique visitors as compared to 154,000 the week prior.
Pokemon.com also attracted 152,000 unique visitors at home, for the week ending March 23rd, as the new Pokemon game for the Game Boy Advance was released March 17th.
