NIELSEN//NETRATINGS
HOLIDAY E-COMMERCE INDEX
DROPS THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS
December 12 Marks
the Busiest Holiday Shopping Day on the Internet
NEW YORK – December 22, 1999
– Nielsen//NetRatings, the Internet measurement service of
Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRT), today
announced that its Holiday E-Commerce Index declined 3.8 percent
for the week ending December 19, suggesting that cybershoppers have
finished making their purchases online almost a week before Christmas
Day. According to the index, December 12 was the busiest holiday
shopping day to date.
"From the standpoint of timing,
the Web holiday shopping season this year is tracking a few weeks
earlier than the offline retail world," said Peggy O’Neill,
director and principal analyst at NetRatings, Inc. "Fearful
of delivery logistics, surfers caused a noticeable drop in traffic
the week before Christmas. Cybershoppers in 1999 tend not to be
huge procrastinators."
According to Nielsen//NetRatings,
audience traffic to holiday e-commerce sites spiked immediately
after Halloween, continued to grow quickly in November, and peaked
in the week ending December 12
(see Figure 1).
Traffic then fell off in a number of key categories.
Gifts, Toys and Cybermalls Reveal
Drops in Traffic
Last week, the categories of gifts,
toys and online malls declined the most in audience traffic. While
these sites still showed steady activity, they were lower from the
week before (see Table 1).
"Enterprising sites are trying
to combat the decrease in traffic by posting reassuring notices
about their ability to deliver packages at the last minute or promoting
online gift certificates instead," said O’Neill.
Table 1
Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday E-Commerce
Index
Percent Change in Unique Audience
as Compared to the Prior Week
| Category |
% Change for
Week Ending Dec. 12
|
% Change for
Week Ending Dec. 19
|
| GIFTS |
32.5%
|
-20.9%
|
| TOYS |
-0.8%
|
-14.0%
|
| MALLS |
15.7%
|
-12.2%
|
| APPAREL |
-9.2%
|
-8.5%
|
| SOFTWARE |
-6.3%
|
-4.4%
|
| BOOKS/MUSIC/VIDEO |
12.0%
|
-3.4%
|
| ELECTRONICS |
10.5%
|
0.1%
|
| AUCTIONS |
-5.1%
|
1.3%
|
| COMPARISON |
11.1%
|
4.0%
|
| COMPUTER
HARDWARE |
0.1%
|
9.1%
|
| TOTAL |
3.4%
|
-3.8%
|
Note: This index is comprised
of five representative sites for each category, and acts as a barometer
for
gauging the level of interest at commerce sites during the holiday
season.
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, December
1999
Computer Hardware, Auctions and
Comparison Sites Show Gains
The number of visitors to computer
hardware sites showed an increase (9.1%), but O’Neill notes
that not all of that traffic should be attributed to shoppers. "Some
of it is no doubt folks looking for Y2K information," she said.
Auctions, which aren’t seasonal
by nature, enjoyed a slight bump (1.3%) from the week before, while
comparison sites showed a significant increase (4.0%). Shown to
be popular with men, comparison sites last week drew 62 percent
of their traffic from males.
"As retailers get better at
reassuring cybershoppers of their fulfillment and delivery infrastructure,
we expect to see traffic sustained at higher levels past December
12," said O’Neill. "Online gift certificates and
other last-minute solutions, which were more prominent this year,
are expected to blossom next year as word gets out about them, and
the Web will be more successful at drawing procrastinators."
About Nielsen//NetRatings
Nielsen//NetRatings, the audience
measurement service from Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings,
Inc., collects data from more than 38,000 panelists as they use
the Internet at home. The Nielsen//NetRatings panel is the largest
media research sample of at-home Internet users currently being
measured in real time. Nielsen//NetRatings uses unique technology
capable of measuring both Internet use and advertising to provide
the most timely, accurate and comprehensive Internet usage data
and advertising information in the industry.
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