Anyone doubting the continued popularity of Apple’s online e-store this holiday season only has to take a look at Nielsen//NetRatings’ latest numbers for November. According to the company, Apple’s online store ranks in the top five list of e-tailers in the United States, and even outpaced competitors like Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
Number one on the list — perhaps predictably — is e-commerce giant Amazon.com, which received almost 31.5 million unique visitors for the month — a 32 percent year over year jump and a record high for 2001, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Next on the list is mail-order company Columbia House, which recorded almost 8.7 uniques, followed by toy reseller Toys R Us with close to 7.6 million. Bookseller Barnes and Noble scored more than 6.2 million visitors for the month, and Apple rounded out the top 5 with more than 6.1 million. Nielsen//NetRatings points out that Amazon.com’s numbers include Toys R Us as well, which was also ranked separately.
Apple resoundingly beat out PC competitor Dell, who only managed 5.7 million and a seventh place ranking. In fact, the only other computer retailer to make the top ten list was Hewlett-Packard, clocking in at ninth place with 5.2 million visitors. Other top ten e-tailers included Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Sears.
The company defines e-tailers as an online store that sells tangible goods on the Internet. Travel sites, financial services sites, auction sites, online subscription sites and software OEM sites are all excluded from this list, as are online stores with less than 25 percent of their Web traffic engaged in shopping online, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Nielsen//NetRatings also noted another interesting data point that may raise the eyebrows of corporate system administrators and personnel managers — the company reported that almost half of all shopping activity is done at work.
“Despite the fact that there are three times more Internet users who have access to the Web at home, the percent of shopping activity at work matches home activity,” said Lisa Strand, director and chief analyst for NetRatings.
How did Nielsen//NetRatings arrive at these numbers? The company collects data from more than 233,000 individuals with Internet access in 29 different countries.