Wal-Mart, Kmart Web sites show big Christmas gains

Drug Store News, Jan 15, 2001 by James Frederick

Online purchases tapered off somewhat during the final days of the Christmas sales season, but traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart laid claim to a bigger share of the online business conducted during the early weeks of the period, according to Jupiter Media Metrix.

The Internet tracking service found customer traffic at Walmart.com jumped 46.5 percent in the week ending Dec. 10 over the previous week, vaulting the e-retail site into the top five in total online visits behind Amazon.com, Mypoints.com, Half.com and Bizrate.com. Wal-Mart's Web site averaged 526,000 daily visitors during the week, marking a 630.6 percent increase over last year, when the site was undergoing redevelopment, according to Media Metrix.

Also enjoying rapid growth is Kmart Corp.'s site, Bluelight.com. The site drew 357,000 visitors during the second week of December, marking a 31.7 percent jump over the previous seven-day period, according to the service.

"As the countdown begins for the final days of this year's holiday-shopping season, online shoppers are increasingly turning to familiar brands with offline origins," said Anne Rickert, an analyst with Media Metrix. However, as the holiday season progressed in the final two weeks before Christmas, online sales began to weaken, according to Media Metrix.

The tracking firm found that the number of visitors to all Internet retail sites dropped to 31.8 million visitors in the week ended Dec. 24, compared with 35.6 million visitors in the week ended Dec. 3.

"The drop in visitors to retail sites during the final days of the shopping season comes as no surprise in light of last year's pattern as well as this season's early peak in retail traffic," said Rickert. "But while traffic to almost all retail sites was down, online shoppers flocked to sites offering last-minute gift-giving alternatives such as online holiday cards and online gift currency. Flooz.com, Americangreetings.com, egreetings.com and Hallmark.com were among the week's top 10 sites with the largest increases in traffic."