Top 10 Online Retailers, Shopping Categories

by: Marketing Charts November 13, 2008 | about stocks: AMZN / BBY / DELL / EBAY / HD / JCP / NFLX / SHLD / TGT / WMT    

Marketing Charts

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More than three-quarters (78%) of adult online consumers in the US made some type of  purchase over the web in the previous six months, and the top transaction categories are travel, credit-card management and online banking, according to (pdf) a survey from Nielsen Online.

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The #1 online transaction category was travel, with 38% of adult online consumers making at least one travel purchase on the web in the previous six months. Credit-card account management and home banking took the #2 and #3 spots, with 36% and 35% of consumers conducting transactions, respectively.

Clothes, shoes, accessories and books were also popular online purchases.

“Most consumers see online retail as a primary benefit of the internet,” said Nachi Lolla, research director, commerce, Nielsen Online. “The sheer convenience of being able to comparison shop from your home or office has become all but irresistible. Possible early concerns about online security have been sufficiently addressed, and consistent on-time delivery and reasonable shipping costs have bolstered consumer confidence. The challenge for retailers is no longer how to lure shoppers online, but how to differentiate their brand among all others.”

Nielsen also announced the top 10 online shopping websites, by unique audience, for October:

About the research: The online purchase research is based on a quarterly survey of approximately 36,000 US internet users age 18+.

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This article has 5 comments:

  •  
    Nov 13 03:17 PM


    This report is already suspect. By "unique audience" could mean ANYTHING and with no specific revelations as to where the "unique audience" is garnered, plus the brevity and no actual weight to the generalization of specifics renders the report rather empty.
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  •  
    Nov 13 04:12 PM
    I am sad to see Nielsen Online publish something so meaningless.

    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Nov 14 12:37 AM
    Wow! Nielsen Online bought by eBay! These morons don't know their business - they need to hire some 'geniuses' from this blog to show them what is counted as "unique audience". They'd then understand - any study showing how bad eBay's financials are (of course, after they dumped the 'geniuses') would make much more sense! Anything else is just... "meaningless"... :)
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Nov 14 01:49 AM
    I do shop around a lot - but I didn't realize how popular eBay is, especially time per person. I guess eBay opening pages for advertisement was a smart move.

    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Nov 14 10:42 AM
    Duh, the survey was of people who use the internet (36,000 US internet users age 18+.)...of course they would have a high rate of purchases...drivel.
    Reply | Link to Comment
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