Sunday,
January 7, 2001
Results Of Holiday 2000 Online-Shopping Season
Media Metrix, the pioneer and leader in Internet
and Digital Media measurement worldwide, today announced
that 34.3
million unique visitors on average went to retail sites
each week during the 2000 holiday shopping season (week
ending November 26, 2000 through week ending December
24, 2000), up 30.3 percent compared to the 1999 holiday-shopping
season and surpassing the Web’s overall growth
of 18.6 percent during the same period.
“While retail sites drew an unprecedented number
of online shoppers this holiday season and even had an
aggregate growth rate surpassing that of the overall Web,
this year will be better remembered by the strong performance
of many traditional offline brands like Walmart, Bestbuy,
American Greetings and Staples,” said Anne Rickert,
measurement analyst, Media Metrix. “At the same time,
this season was marked by the continued dominance of a
few existing e-tailers, mainly Amazon.”
Traffic to retail sites for the week following the holiday-shopping
season (week ending Dec. 31, 2000) was down 15.2 percent
compared to the holiday season average, but the Media Metrix
Online Shopping Index -- which aggregates Web visitors
from both home and work to nearly 400 retail sites and
18 retail subcategories -- was still up 27.0 percent compared
to the same week last year.
Highlights For The 2000 Holiday Season
-Amazon.com is the number-one retail site over the five-week
holiday season for the second year in a row, with a year-over-year
increase in holiday-season traffic of 47.8 percent.
-Walmart.com was the top gaining retail site for the 2000
holiday shopping season, with a year-over-year increase
of 640.0 percent in holiday season traffic compared to
the 1999 holiday season. The five-week traffic average
to Walmart.com grew from 50,000 average daily unique visitors
over the 1999 holiday shopping season to 370,000 over the
2000 holiday shopping season.
-Six of the top ten gaining retail sites for the 2000
holiday shopping season were traditional offline brands – Walmart.com,
Bestbuy.com, AmericanGreetings.com, Staples.com, Hallmark.com
and Sears.com.
-Books sites were the top retail subcategory for the 2000
holiday shopping season with a five-week average of 2.3
million average daily unique visitors, surpassing last
year’s leader, computer sites, which had a five-week
average of 2.1 million average daily unique visitors for
the 2000 holiday shopping season.
Unsolicited Ad Faxes Illegal, But Not Email SPAM
According to the DMA:
"Most direct marketers who use telemarketing as a
means of promoting their product or service are by now
aware of the requirements of Federal Trade Commission's
(FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule. Somewhat less well-known
are the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) rules
implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991
(TCPA). Since the FCC's rules applied to telemarketing
even before the FTC rule was adopted and still apply today,
telemarketers need to comply with both sets of regulations.
In many ways, the FTC and FCC rules are similar, but the
TCPA and FCC rules govern issues that are not addressed
by the FTC rules. One of the most common questions about
the TCPA is how fax machines can be used for advertising.
The TCPA, and in turn the FCC regulations, impose a general
ban on the use of facsimile machines to send an "unsolicited
advertisement." 47 U.S.C. § 227 (b)(1)(C); 47
C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(3). This includes any advertising
material promoting the "commercial availability" of
any goods, property, or services that is transmitted without
the recipient's "prior express invitation or permission." 47
U.S.C. § 227(a)(4); 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f)(5)."
Despite these requirements, the FTC and FCC both still
refuse to impose regulations against email spammers,
a much greater problem that ties up email accounts and
ISP email servers.
News Tidbits (appears every day on the front page)
- No new tidbits today.
