Gartner Survey Shows even Among "Pure-Play" Online Retailers, Name Brands Won the Holiday Sales Race
Gartner Consulting Undertakes Study to Determine Which Services And Functionality Are Required By Mobile Users Around The Globe
Stamford, Conn., February 6, 2001 — American consumers shopped online in record numbers this past holiday season, but a recent survey by Gartner Group Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) showed consumers preferred to shop with strong brand name vendors. Gartner surveyed 2,193 U.S. adults and asked them what sites they purchased their gifts from this past holiday season.

The survey results showed only four of the top 15 Internet retailers were "pure-play" dot.com retailers. These four e-tailers were Amazon.com, eBay.com, eToys.com and Buy.com (see Table 1). While only four pure-play Internet retailers made the top 15 sites, these four e-tailers were used by almost half (45 percent) of all the buyers that purchased gifts online.

"Relatively few pure-play Internet commerce sites have been able to break through the clutter, and the fact that less than one-third of the top fifteen online sites for this past holiday season were strictly online reinforces that," said David Schehr, research director for Gartner's e-Business Services group. "Other Gartner research shows that most people find their shopping sites through offline means, so the physical presence and brand history of multichannel retailers have helped these companies efficiently gain business for their online channels during the holiday season, and will continue to so in the coming year."

Table 1
Top 15 Online Retailers, and the Percentage of U.S. Buyers who Purchased at These Sites
Company Online Buyers Who Purchased (Percent)
Amazon.com 28
eBay.com 13
eToys.com 8
Barnesandnoble.com 5
Buy.com 4
JCPenney.com 4
Eddiebauer.com 4
Toysrus.com 3
Walmart.com 3
LLBean.com 2
Spiegel.com 2
Gap.com 2
Victoriassecret.com 1
Zanybrainy.com 1
Source: Gartner (January 2001)

Gartner's survey showed that nearly 25 million American consumers bought gifts online this past holiday season. The results of the survey showed these consumers spent nearly $6.2 billion online for holiday gifts.

Additional information on this research is available to subscribers of Gartner's e-Business Services. These programs are part of a wide range of Gartner services examining the e-business industry. These programs are designed to help senior executives, strategic planners and investors capitalize on emerging opportunities by providing research and analysis on electronic commerce and Internet marketplaces. Additional information on these programs is available on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com. To subscribe to these services, please call 800-419-DATA or 408-468-8009.

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CONTACT:
Tom McCall
408-468-8312
tom.mccall@gartner.com