Online retail activity slowed in August, but Amazon.com continued to lead all Internet
retailers with an estimated 1.6 million buyers, down from 1.8 million buyers
in July, according to a newly released industry report.
The figures from PC Data Online show that Ticketmaster.com maintained the No. 2
position with an estimated 595,000 buyers, and buy.com had the No. 3 position in the rankings
with 466,000 buyers. CDnow.com claimed the No. 4 slot with 441,000
buyers. Sears.com was fifth.
“Online retail activity lagged in August, as the last days of summer took
consumers away from their PCs,” said Cameron Meierhoefer, Internet analyst
for PC Data Online. “But even with a slight drop in buyers from July, the
level of buying activity at top sites doubled over August of last year. If
this trend holds, leading Web retailers will have something to smile about
going into the Holiday season.”
J.Crew posted the largest gain in August and
jumped to the No. 18 spot from No. 47 in July with 128,000 projected buyers.
The data is gathered through a proprietary software tool that tracks “unique
visitors” and “unique buyers” on each Web site, according to PC Data Online.
Each visitor or buyer is counted once, regardless of how many times the
individual visits a site or buys from a site. This sample includes over
120,000 home Internet users. Total home Internet users are estimated at
approximately 81 million.
PC Data Online defines Internet retail sites as sites at which visitors can
actually purchase products. It does not include domains that provide free
downloads, product reviews or purchasing incentives, such as coupons, nor
other types of e-commerce sites, such as auction, travel reservation or
financial service sites.
Sixth through 10th spots were held by barnesandnoble.com, jcpenney.com,
real.com, drugstore.com and pets.com.
