Online Shopping the Day After Thanksgiving Jumps 11 Percent Year-Over-Year, According to Nielsen//NetRatings

Online Shopping the Day After Thanksgiving Jumps 11 Percent Year-Over-Year, According to Nielsen//NetRatings

eBay, Amazon and Wal-Mart Stores Lead Top Ten Online Shopping Destinations

NEW YORK, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nielsen//NetRatings, the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis, today reported that online shopping jumped 11 percent in unique shoppers the day after Thanksgiving in 2004 as compared to the same day in 2003, according to the latest Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday eShopping Index, which tracks shopping activity at 109 key retail and shopping sites across ten categories.

The day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as "Black Friday," traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, saw the highest number of online shoppers tracked by the Index thus far during holiday season 2004, with 26 percent more shoppers, or 13.3 million people, visiting online stores on November 26 than the previous Friday, November 19.

"Even diehard holiday shoppers that weather the Black Friday crowds at sunrise know to research the Web for product selection and price comparisons before heading out to the mall," said Ken Cassar, director of client analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. "Online shoppers deluged the Web sites of their favorite brick-and-mortar stores, as well as online retail resources such as BF2004.net, which provided ad updates on Black Friday sales and promotions."

eBay led the top online shopping destinations the day after Thanksgiving with 5.4 million unique audience (see Table 1). Amazon followed with 2.6 million, while Wal-Mart Stores saw 1.4 million shoppers. Rounding out the Top 5 sites were Target and BestBuy.com with 923,000 and 847,000 unique audience, respectively.

Table 1. Nielsen//NetRatings Top Online Shopping Destinations, Nov. 26 (U.S., Home)

Site Unique Audience

1. eBay 5.4 million
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2. Amazon 2.6 million
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3. Wal-Mart Stores 1.4 million
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4. Target 923,000
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5. BestBuy.com 847,000
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6. Yahoo! Shopping 818,000
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7. Shopping.com Network 702,000
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8. Overstock.com 675,000
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9. Sears 645,000
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10. ToysRUs 642,000
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Daily Overnight Analysis, November 2004



Hot Growth Categories: Toys/Video Games, Consumer Electronics & Shopping Comparison/Portals

The day after Thanksgiving saw Toys and Video Games taking the largest jump, growing 152 percent in visitors at home as compared to the previous Friday, according to the Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday eShopping Index (see Table 2). Consumer Electronics spiked 94 percent in traffic, while Shopping Comparison/Portals rose 75 percent. Computer Hardware/Software and Books/Music/Video rose 54 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

"The fastest growing product categories on Black Friday were in traditional gift categories that can be easily found and bought," said Cassar. "We expect to see continued growth in these areas, along with the Flowers/Gifts category increasing in shopping activity a bit later in the season."

Table 2. Top Growth Categories on Nov. 26 based on Unique Audience (U.S., Home)

CATEGORY Daily % Growth on Nov. 26 vs. Nov. 19

TOYS/VIDEOGAMES 152%
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CONSUMER ELECTRONICS 94%
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SHOPPING COMPARISON/ PORTALS 75%
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COMPUTER HARDWARE/ SOFTWARE 54%
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BOOKS/MUSIC/VIDEO 50%
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TOTAL (across 10 categories) 26%
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday eShopping Index, November 2004

About Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday eShopping Index


The Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday eShopping Index is comprised of 109 representative retailers across ten categories, and acts as a barometer to gauge the level of activity at online shopping destinations during the holiday season. The Index illustrates increased shopping activity through category growths.

About Nielsen//NetRatings

Nielsen//NetRatings (NASDAQ:NTRT) is the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis and is the industry's premier source for online advertising intelligence with its NetView, AdRelevance, @Plan, WebRF, LemonAd, MegaPanel and SiteCensus services. Covering 70 percent of the world's Internet usage, the Nielsen//NetRatings services offer syndicated Internet and digital media research reports and custom-tailored data to help companies gain valuable insight into their business. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.com.

CONTACT:
Jennifer Fan
NetRatings, Inc.
+1-408-941-2951

Tracy Yen
NetRatings, Inc.
+1-408-941-2932



Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

CONTACT: Jennifer Fan, +1-408-941-2951, or Tracy Yen, +1-408-941-2932,
both of NetRatings, Inc.

Web site: http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Please source all data to Nielsen//NetRatings.

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