This Story Posted:
July 28th, 1999

 
 

[2:45 PM]
PC Data Names Apple #13 "E-tail" Commerce Site!
PC Data has named the Top 20 eCommerce sites, or "E-tail" sites as PC Data refers to them, and Apple shows up as the #13 site beating out such names as Compaq and Gateway 2000. According to PC Data:

PC Data Online, a leading Internet research firm specializing in web audience measurement and Internet market research today released sales information from the top 20 E-tail sites, which are defined as shopping sites where visitors can actually purchase consumer products. E-tail sites do not include shopping domains that provide free downloads, product reviews, or purchasing incentives such as coupons.

The research indicates that more home PC users purchased at amazon.com, ticketmaster.com and buy.com than any other E-tail site, followed by sony.com and mothernature.com.

Not surprisingly, the numbers indicate that buyers spent significantly more time and viewed more pages than those who did not make a purchase. At amazon.com, purchasers spent 2 hours and 18 minutes at the site over the course of the month, whereas visitors who did not purchase any product averaged only 38 minutes on the site. At ticketmaster.com, the difference was even more pronounced, as purchasers spent 7 hours and 27 minutes on the site in June, whereas non-purchasers spent only 23 minutes.

The information is gathered through a proprietary software tool that tracks "unique visitors" and "unique buyers" on each web site. Every visitor or buyer is counted only once, regardless of how many times the individual visits a site or buys from a site. This sample includes 55,000 home users who are not using the proprietary AOL browser. The total universe of non-AOL home Internet users is approximately 50,000,000. PC Data will begin tracking AOL users in August, 1999.

Top 20 E-tailers

June 1999

 

Avg. Page Views

Avg. Time Spent

(hh:mm)

 

 

Rank

 

 

Website

Projected No. of Purchasers (000)
 

Reach (%)

Unique Users (000)
Purchase Rate

(%)

 

 

Purchaser

 

Non-

purchaser

 

 

Purchaser

 

Non-

purchaser

1
amazon.com
562
14.7%
6,463
8.7%
67.3
25.3
2:18
0:38
2
ticketmaster.com
280
2.9%
1,258
22.3%
38.5
14.2
7:29
0:23
3
buy.com
273
3.3%
1,441
18.9%
71.5
24.6
1:54
0:43
4
sony.com
226
5.6%
2,473
9.2%
39.6
40.8
1:01
1:53
5
mothernature.com
196
2.6%
1,162
16.9%
45.2
17.8
0:33
0:25
6
iprint.com
174
1.9%
826
21.1%
108.1
60.9
1:57
0:40
7
drugstore.com
154
1.9%
814
18.9%
113.6
28.2
1:26
0:32
8
hallmark.com
153
1.1%
486
31.4%
35.8
19.0
0:44
1:50
9
netmarket.com
138
1.5%
672
20.5%
27.4
4.9
2:05
0:12
10
cdnow.com
116
7.5%
3,288
3.5%
84.2
29.0
2:18
0:54
11
computers4sure.com
104
1.2%
526
19.8%
11.1
7.0
0:10
0:09
12
barnesandnoble.com
101
5.3%
2,307
4.4%
66.0
11.4
1:27
0:14
13
apple.com
99
4.5%
1,983
5.0%
24.8
5.5
1:00
0:18
14
etoys.com
83
3.4%
1,485
5.6%
61.3
15.4
0:47
0:15
15
enews.com
70
2.5%
1,109
6.3%
14.2
6.4
0:21
0:09
16
compaq.com
64
1.9%
824
7.8%
53.2
11.8
0:54
0:27
17
smarterkids.com
58
2.0%
857
6.8%
32.3
10.7
1:27
0:46
18
gateway.com
56
2.8%
1,227
4.6%
50.9
11.2
1:29
0:37
19
spree.com
56
3.1%
1,364
4.1%
92.6
28.3
3:03
0:43
20
egghead.com
41
2.9%
1,269
3.3%
44.7
8.1
2:16
0:10

PC Data Online estimates the purchase rate based on the number of unique users who visit a transaction-related page within each site.

The Mac Observer Spin: This is an impressive showing for Apple. Consider how much Apple markets the AppleStore and consider how much Barnes & Noble at just one spot above Apple, markets theirs. Then there is the fact that Apple beat out both Compaq, the nation's number 1 retailer, and Gateway, another company that has put large investments into promoting their commerce site. One notable site missing from this list is Dell Computer. With a thriving eCommerce presence (that is certainly higher than Apple's), one would think they would be listed in the Top 20. We contacted PC Data to ask about this, but at press time had not heard back from them.

In any event, congratulations to Apple!

PC Data