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Holiday traffic up, with boost from Old Economy standards

Holiday shoppers found comfort in the familiar this season, with increasing numbers of people visiting traditional retailers' online stores, a new report says.

Stefanie Olsen Staff writer, CNET News
Stefanie Olsen covers technology and science.
Stefanie Olsen
2 min read
Holiday shoppers found comfort in the familiar this season, with increasing numbers of people visiting traditional retailers' online stores.

Ranking holiday 2000
Top 10 e-tailers of holiday 2000, measured by unique visitors:
1. Amazon.com
2. MyPoints.com
3. AmericanGreetings.com
4. Half.com
5. BizRate.com
6. Webstakes.com
7. Walmart.com
8. CDNow
9. Buy.com
10. eToys

Source: Media Metrix

Walmart.com, BestBuy.com, Sears.com and Staples.com took top seating as holiday traffic gainers in the 2000 season, according to a report scheduled to be released Friday by Jupiter Media Metrix.

For most-popular sites overall, online-only Amazon.com and MyPoints.com remained No. 1 and No. 2 for the second straight year. Amazon's traffic was up nearly 48 percent from last season, while MyPoints.com's traffic surged by 60 percent.

While eight of the top 10 traffic makers during the season were Internet companies--including Half.com, BizRate.com, CDNow and eToys--the online units of brick-and-mortar stores made headway this year.

Analysts had predicted at the beginning of the season that the so-called bricks-and-clicks would have a good season, in part because people would stick with well-known brands in a time of uncertainty.

Moving on up
Top 10 gainers of holiday 2000, measured by unique visitors.
Site % gain
Walmart.com 640
MySimon 222
BestBuy.com 203
AmericanGreetings.com 149
DealTime.com 137
Staples.com 135
Hallmark.com 124
Sears.com 96
800.com 67
BizRate.com 65

Source: Media Metrix

Walmart.com scored the highest in traffic increases this season, with a 640 percent increase over the 1999 holiday and an average of 370,000 unique visitors per day.

Traffic for BestBuy.com and AmericanGreetings.com grew by about 200 percent and 150 percent, respectively, this holiday season over last.

In contrast, online buying guide MySimon joined the list of top gainers this year. The site, which is owned by CNET Networks, publisher of News.com, saw a 222 percent increase in traffic this season over 1999.

Overall, online traffic for the five weeks from Nov. 19 to Dec. 24 rose by 30 percent over the same period in 1999; and the online retail industry received an average of 34.3 million unique visitors each week during the 2000 season, according to the report. Holiday traffic to retailers surpassed the Web's overall growth of 18.6 percent during the same period.

The biggest holiday draw was book Web sites, surpassing the computer sector, which dominated last year. Book sites drew an average of 2.26 million unique visitors per day, while computer Web sites pulled in about 2.1 million. Mall sites, consumer electronics, and flower and greeting sites rounded out the top five.