Top E-Tailers Report Stellar Growth

A new industry report says that the top 100 e-commerce Web sites are reporting annual growth rates of 1,000 percent and are pulling in revenues of as much as $100 million.

However, the report from Peterborough, NH-based ActivMedia Research says that next year, the top 100 line may be much higher.

"Top 100 Retail E-Commerce Websites," details the revenues of the top online money makers. Web sites that invest in marketing and Web site automation garner the greatest revenues and anticipate the greatest growth during 1999.

Some sites, such as Dell and Amazon, refused to disclose monthly growth data and therefore were excluded from the study.

"We suspect that some of the biggest e-commerce producers who refused to disclose revenue growth information in this year's study will also continue at better than 100 percent growth, but we won't know until next year," said Chris Anne Wheeler, ActivMedia's vice president of information services.

"What this list shows, however, is that there is still plenty of time for diverse and new entrants to become e-commerce leaders by investing in marketing and Web site infrastructure."

The study is available for $1,295. It details the leader's strategies, marketing techniques, revenues, and site performance. The list, compiled through primary telephone research and cross-referenced against secondary sources, is an attempt to quantify the top online revenue producers on the Web.