(Source: PRNewswire)
BOSTON, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Compete, a TNS Media company, today released an industry category snapshot - a monthly ranking of the top 25 most-trafficked retail Web sites. In July 2009, Amazon retained the top spot on the list, continuing its steady 18-month rise in unique visitors as consumers continue to flock to discount retailers to stretch their dollars further. Though it didn't make the top 15, Bed Bath & Beyond experienced the largest month-over-month gain on the list (21 percent) driven in part by highly-active back-to-school shoppers. Finally, Walgreens exited the month still leading rival CVS, but the distance between the nation's leading pharmacies continues to shrink. CVS.com grew at a higher rate than Walgreens.com for the month (15 percent versus 5 percent increase) and continues to gain ground on Walgreens.com on the heels of CVS.com traffic doubling year-over-year.
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Amazon Stays at Number One
Budget-conscious consumers seem to be finding a safe haven with the discount retailers, and this, in part, helped Amazon.com retain its number-one spot on the top 25 list. The site attracted 67.2 million unique visitors (UVs) in July, more than double the traffic of the next closest retailer Walmart. Amazon has benefited from consumer's flight to value online, as well as growing consumer interest in its popular line of Kindle eBook readers. Compete's analysis of Amazon's Kindle success continues here.
Going Back to School
Despite doomsday predictions for the 2009 back-to-school (BTS) shopping season, the number of BTS searches - including terms like "school supplies" and "back to school" - rose to 1.7 million in July 2009 (up from 1.2 million UVs in July 2008). Among the top ranked retail sites, sites catering to back-to-school shopping such as Staples, Target and Wal-Mart all experienced traffic growth during July. Bed, Bath & Beyond (now number 18 on the list) received the biggest month-over-month gain in July, however, increasing 21 percent. Compete's analysis of back-to-school trends continues here.
CVS Pushes Walgreens Online
Rounding out the storylines for July is the continued rise of CVS.com. Both CVS.com and Walgreens.com saw their traffic rise month-over-month, but CVS.com's growth outpaced that of its rival 15 percent versus 5 percent. Although Walgreens.com continues to maintain a sizeable online lead over CVS.com, the CVS.com has narrowed the gap of late. And, CVS.com traffic has risen 103 percent year-over-year since the site was re-launched last summer. Stay tuned for this ongoing competition for pharmacy visitors.
