| Holidays Drive Internet Traffic on Top 100 |
The Holiday season was a boon for the Internet in December, boosting traffic to e-tail sites as well as portals, which served as a first stop to online shopping, according to PC Data Online's December Top 100.
The top three sites on the December Top 100 -- all portals -- saw traffic growth in December. In the No. 1 position for 22 consecutive months, yahoo.com logged 65 million unique users, an increase of 2.8 percent over the previous month. Aol.com and msn.com saw moderate increases of 1.8 percent (53 million unique users) and 1.6 percent (47 million unique users) respectively. Newly acquired by Spain's Terra Networks, lycos.com was the fastest growing site among the top ten at No. 9 with a growth rate of 12.2 percent and 26 million unique users.
"The Holidays were a growth catalyst in December, with users flocking to greeting card sites, weather reports and of course gift buying sites," said John Megahed, director of research and analysis for PC Data Online. "While yahoo.com, aol.com and msn.com are not necessarily known for selling merchandise directly to consumers, they did serve as the most formidable online shopping malls for merchants. By virtue of their web portal and gateway status, they deliver millions of customers to online storefronts."
Amazon.com was a top beneficiary of the online shopping season. In the No. 8 position, it registered 28.5 million unique users in December compared with 26 million in November. Online shopping assistant mysimon.com had a good December and climbed back into the Top 100 at No. 55 with nine million unique users.
Other e-tailers in the Top 100 were: walmart.com at No. 44 with 11 million unique users, toysrus.com at No. 53 with 9.3 million unique users, cdnow.com at No. 59 with 8.6 million unique users, barnesandnoble.com at No. 65 with 8.3 million unique users, K-mart's bluelight.com at No. 68 with 8.1 million unique users, buy.com at No. 72 with 8 million unique users, bestbuy.com at No. 95 with 6.7 million unique users and sears.com at No. 100 with 6.5 million unique users.
Nettaxi.com also attracted Holiday shoppers and exploded into the Top 100 with a 588 percent increase in traffic at No. 93 with 6.8 million unique users. The site combines web hosting and "one-stop shopping."
Online greeting cards as expected did well in December. With 21.5 million unique visitors, bluemountain.com fared the best in the No. 13 spot, an increase of 23 percent. Americangreetings.com moved up one spot from November to No. 21 with over 16.5 million unique users, and egreetings.com at No. 64 increased traffic 27 percent with nearly 8.4 million unique users.
Holiday travelers, weary of December's winter storms, went to the web for news updates. Top "News and Media" site in the Top 100 was weather.com at No. 26 with 15 million unique users. Weatherbug.com, which delivers real-time weather updates, came in at No. 75 with 7.6 million unique users.
Sites new to the Top 100 in December were marketing site exitfuel.com (from No. 114 to No. 67), sweepstakes site pch.com (from No. 173 to No. 73), games site uproar.com (from No. 138 to No. 78), web services site postmasterdirect.com (from No. 102 to No. 97), and business and economy site cj.com (from No. 110 to No. 99).
About PC Data
PC Data is the leading provider of high tech sales intelligence in the United
States. Its PC Data Online division has become a primary source of web transactions
and activity through its panel of over 120,000 U.S. home Internet users. It
also conducts rapidly deployed surveys over the Internet. In addition to the
U.S., PC Data collects online data in Australia, Italy, Canada, China, Hong
Kong and Taiwan.
Source: PC Data Online Press Release January 11, 2001
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