eCommerce Holiday Winners and Losers; NextCard Offers First Hard Data On Web Retail Successes and Failures This Holiday Shopping Season
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2000--
Pure Internet Companies Like Amazon and eToys
Lead Their Categories
NextCard (Nasdaq:NXCD), the leading Internet Visa, today revealed
the top ten e-commerce retailers, based on actual NextCard purchase
volume, for the six-week holiday shopping period from pre-Thanksgiving
through Christmas.
The NextCard Top Ten eHoliday Retailers is the first hard data to
clearly illustrate which online merchants were successful in
converting visitors into buyers this holiday season. The NextCard Top
Ten eHoliday Retailers is a special supplement to the monthly NextCard
eCommerce Index, a ranking of the 25 online Web sites, which can be
found at nextcard.com.
"The 1999 online holiday shopping season was a huge test to see
if traditional offline merchants effectively compete with pure
internet rivals -- in merchandising and delivering goods," said Jamie
Hale, manager of NextCard's merchant initiatives.
"What we've seen, however, is that although some major offline
brands can draw significant traffic to their sites, they are still
unable to convert those visitors into online buyers. For example,
ToysRUs.com ranked 5th in total holiday visitor volume according to
Media Metrix, but did not make NextCard's Top Ten; in fact, it did not
make the top 30.
"eToys, on the other hand, experienced some of the highest
visitor to buyer conversion in the industry, ranking 3rd in traffic
volume according to Media Metrix and 5th in transaction volume
according to NextCard's data."
Amazon.com is the clear winner this eholiday. Not only did
Amazon.com capture 44% of the top ten total transaction volume, but
its transaction volume is four times that of the number two merchant
on the list, buy.com.
Amazon also had the highest average purchase price ($36) compared
with its competitors in the book and music categories -- 62% greater
average purchase price than barnesandnoble.com and 40% greater than
CDNOW.
Surprisingly, more.com and drugstore.com, while not among the
most trafficked Web sites this holiday according to Media Metrix,
proved to be two of the top ten sites based on actual purchase volume.
"This flies in the face of the common belief that unique visitors
is the most important measure of a Web merchant's success. Unique
visitors do not necessarily correlate with purchasers," added Jamie
Hale. "The true measure of an online merchant's success is transaction
volume."
Gift sites and gift certificate sites showed the most impressive
volume gains during the peak online shopping season with Flooz.com
growing over 800%, while Kozmo.com, the online shopping site that
delivers free one-hour delivery of all products, increased total
transaction by over 1000% showing the value of meeting the need of the
true 'last-minute-shopper.'
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*T
Top Ten Holiday eCommerce Sites Based on Transaction Volume
Nov. 15th through Dec. 31st 1999
Average
Transaction Volume Holiday
Rank Merchant Purchase Price
1. AMAZON $36.00
2. BUY.COM $64.63
3. BARNESANDNOBLE.COM $22.16
4. CD NOW $25.91
5. ETOYS $60.31
6. REEL.COM $19.53
7. EGGHEAD.COM $144.51
8. KBKIDS.COM $52.32
9. MORE.COM $7.42
10. DRUGSTORE.COM $18.65
Biggest Merchant Movers in December
The NextCard eCommerce Movers(SM) is a monthly listing of the top
10 online merchants that experience the largest percentage change in
transaction volume from the previous month.
5 Biggest Gainers
Rank Merchant
1. KOZMO.COM 1,140%
2. FLOOZ.COM 890%
3. RED ENVELOPE 847%
4. MORE.COM 843%
5. OMAHASTEAKS.COM 820%
5 Biggest Losers
Rank Merchant
1. IBABY -68%
2. ONSALE -67%
3. WEB PLAYERS -58%
4. ARTISTIC ONLINE -38%
5. PETOPIA.COM -34%
*T
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About the Index
The NextCard Top Ten eHoliday Retailers is based on the number of
online purchase transactions made by NextCard customers over the six
week holiday shopping season, Nov. 15th through Dec. 31st, 1999.
The NextCard indices, including the NextCard eCommerce Index and
the NextCard eCommerce Movers, combines two critical components to
accurately reflect online transaction activity: 1) a large cardholder
base that reflects the demographic profile of online purchasers and
2) data-mining technology that tracks card transactions online.
As some of the most sophisticated online consumers, NextCard
customers make online purchases approximately five times more often
than the average online credit card user. As a result, the NextCard
eCommerce Indices not only provide valuable information about where
online consumers are actually buying, but it also reflects the ability
of merchants to convert Web visitors to buyers, and buyers to repeat
customers.
NextCard, Inc.
NextCard, Inc. (http://www.nextcard.com), creator of The First
True Internet Visa in 1997, is considered the industry's leading
issuer of consumer credit on the Internet. The Company has continued
to innovate with its complete GoShopping!(SM) Web site, NextCard
Concierge(SM), personalized PictureCard(SM) design and exceptional
online customer service.
NextCard is consistently a top 10 online advertiser, operates a
network of over 25,000 affiliates and has exclusive card relationships
with leading brands including Amazon.com and DILBERT. NextCard also
publishes the monthly NextCard eCommerce Index, considered the
definitive barometer of online purchase activity.
NextCard was recently named the No. 1 credit card brand Internet
consumers would consider for use according to ZDNet's 1999 BrandIQ
research study. The Company is listed as a "HOT 100 Company" by Upside
magazine and one of "The Standard 100" most important and influential
companies in the Internet economy by The Industry Standard magazine.
The Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Information contained herein as to NextCard's
expectations and goals are forward-looking statements. Actual results
could differ from those projected in these statements due to portfolio
characteristics, economic conditions, competition in the industry and
other factors detailed from time to time in the Company's Securities
and Exchange Commission filings.
Note to Editors: Trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
--30--nj/sf* jb/sf
CONTACT:
NextCard
Camille Lepre, 415/369-5517
camille.lepre@nextcard.com
Michelle DesMarais, 415/836-9792
michelle.desmarais@nextcard.com |
