OnlineHoliday Shopping Season Kicks Off With 12 Percent Growth The Second Week In November,
According To Nielsen//NetRatings

NEW YORK – November 16, 2000 – Nielsen//NetRatings, the Internet audience measurement service from Nielsen Media Research, ACNielsen eRatings.com and NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT), today revealed that the holiday shopping season has officially started the second week in November, shifting from its flat growth in the first week. The Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday E-Commerce Index, which measures home and work Internet user visits to representative e-commerce sites in eight product categories, rose 12 percent in the past week ending November 12.

“The 12 percent rise in user visits is nearly identical to the leap in the first week of holiday traffic for 1999, so it’s clear the holiday season has firmly begun, albeit one week delayed,” said Sean Kaldor, vice president of eCommerce at NetRatings.

Leading the growth were toys, games and apparel sites (see Table 1). The toys and games category soared 47 percent in total user visits this past week, after seeing a 12 percent decline in visits the previous week. The apparel category jumped 43 percent, adding to its five percent rise the previous week. Consumer electronics rose 17 percent, and virtual department stores, which include sites such as Amazon, Target and Walmart, increased 12 percent.

“We forecasted a 270 percent increase in unique visitors to online toy and game sites between August and December 2000. This week’s numbers confirm a solid holiday start for this sector, which depends most heavily upon a strong fourth quarter,” said Kaldor. “Toys and game sites are on the rise, with many toy companies having started their initial holiday gift marketing campaigns, including promotional inserts, catalog mailings, banner campaigns, and TV advertisements.”

“Apparel sites have been a sleeper hit thus far in 2000, since many industry watchers questioned whether clothing could be sold effectively online. Every apparel e-tailer in our index showed significant growth over the prior week, with Spiegel.com and VictoriasSecret.com racing neck and neck for the ‘fastest growing apparel site’ title within our index,” he continued.

Table 1. Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday E-Commerce Index
(U.S., Total Visits, Combined Home & Work)

Category	% Change 10/29-11/5	% Change 11/5-11/12
TOYS & GAMES	-12%	47%
APPAREL	5%	43%
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS	2%	17%
VIRTUAL DEPARTMENT STORES	1%	12%
BOOKS/MUSIC/VIDEO	0%	9%
VALUE-ORIENTED SITES	3%	-1%
COMPUTER HARDWARE	-13%	-4%
SPECIALTY GIFTS	35%	-10%

Note: The index is comprised of five representative sites in each category, and acts as a barometer to gauge the level of usage of e-commerce sites during the holiday season. A visit is a single trip to a shopping site.
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, November 2000

About Nielsen//NetRatings
Nielsen//NetRatings, the Internet audience measurement service from Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc., collects real-time data from more than 70,000 panel members in the United States.  The U.S. panel sample consists of 62,000 at-home users and 8,000 at-work users.  These panels collectively represent the largest representative media research sample of Internet users in the industry.  Internationally, Nielsen//NetRatings services are provided via ACNielsen eRatings.com, a venture between ACNielsen (NYSE: ART) and NetRatings, Inc. Globally, Nielsen//NetRatings services measure the Internet experiences of nearly 200,000 global Internet users.

Nielsen//NetRatings services use 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 global marketplace.  Nielsen//NetRatings services leverage proprietary data-collection technology from NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research's 50 years of expertise in research and audience measurement, and ACNielsen’s international leadership in supplying market research information covering more than 100 countries.

Editor’s Note:  Please source all data to Nielsen//NetRatings.

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