The Wall Street Journal reports that new research from Kantar Media suggests that Amazon is the clear winner in the holiday e-commerce war, at least so far.
According to the story, on Black Friday Amazon generated more than 30 percent of the online traffic of the 128 sites tracked by Kantar, and on Cyber Monday close to 35 percent of the online traffic went to Amazon.
The closest competitor - Walmart's site, which got five percent of the online traffic on each of those two days.
"Of course," the Journal writes, "Amazon has a built-in advantage: it’s non-holiday traffic levels are always high compared to companies like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Macy’s, which have to also focus on driving people to stores." And it is generating this traffic without the high advertising costs that other major retailers are taking on.
In related news, comScore is out with its analysis of the online holiday sales to date, concluding that "for the holiday season-to-date, $35.4 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. Green Monday (Dec. 8) reached $1.6 billion in desktop online spending, up 15 percent versus year ago, representing the third heaviest online spending day of the holiday season-to-date after Cyber Monday and Tuesday, December 2. Cyber Week, the week beginning with Cyber Monday, posted strong growth online, raking in $9.1 billion in desktop spending for an increase of 14 percent compared to the same week last year."
According to the story, on Black Friday Amazon generated more than 30 percent of the online traffic of the 128 sites tracked by Kantar, and on Cyber Monday close to 35 percent of the online traffic went to Amazon.
The closest competitor - Walmart's site, which got five percent of the online traffic on each of those two days.
"Of course," the Journal writes, "Amazon has a built-in advantage: it’s non-holiday traffic levels are always high compared to companies like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Macy’s, which have to also focus on driving people to stores." And it is generating this traffic without the high advertising costs that other major retailers are taking on.
In related news, comScore is out with its analysis of the online holiday sales to date, concluding that "for the holiday season-to-date, $35.4 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. Green Monday (Dec. 8) reached $1.6 billion in desktop online spending, up 15 percent versus year ago, representing the third heaviest online spending day of the holiday season-to-date after Cyber Monday and Tuesday, December 2. Cyber Week, the week beginning with Cyber Monday, posted strong growth online, raking in $9.1 billion in desktop spending for an increase of 14 percent compared to the same week last year."
- KC's View:
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We went out to do Christmas shopping last night, and every step of the way we asked ourselves if it would make more sense to get this item or that item online … and if Amazon was the best and least expensive choice. That wasn't always the case … but it was like the Ghost of Christmas Presents … hovering over us, influencing our decision making, always an option.
That's a powerful place to be.
