(By Rich Bieglmeier) With the Christmas shopping season winding down, iStock decided to use Google Trends to see how web searches are shaping up for some of the top-retailers. We've had some fun and success using Google Trends for technology and thought, "let's see how this year stacks up for 20 major retailers relative to last year."
By most accounts, 2012 has been a stellar year for online sales. According to Andrew Stevenson at Neowin.net, "For all the talk of a recession and financial hardships, consumers are still speaking with their wallets this holiday season. Figures released by comScore show that this holiday season has been the most successful for online trading ever, with figures all up at least 11% on the same period last year."
With that in mind, iStock would expect to see search queries rise for most of the nation's top retailers. What we found, and you'll see below, is fairly interesting. On seven of the 20 retailers witnessed an increase in 2012 relative to 2011. Amazon (AMZN), as you probably guessed, saw the biggest increase of 22.98%.
We see another trend with the other six in positive territory. iStock would describe the next four as discount retailers with Dollar General Corporation (DG) at the top of the list with searches rising 17.42% and The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) right behind with 16.77%.
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP) and Macy's, Inc. (M) are at the bottom of the pack with search volume falling 48.15% and 41.62%, respectively. Least you think this effort is all hocus-pocus, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) shares fell 6.5% yesterday when the Home Furnishing Stores operator announced fourth-quarter and full-year earnings forecasts that missed analysts' expectations.
Retail it and weep:
| | | 2011 | 2012 | | |
| Retailer | Ticker | Black-Friday Peak | December Peak | Black-Friday Peak | December Peak | Change |
| Amazon | AMZN | 81 | 80 | 100 | 98 | 22.98% |
| Dollar General | DG | 80 | 75 | 100 | 82 | 17.42% |
| TJ Maxx | TJX | 80 | 87 | 100 | 95 | 16.77% |
| Family Dollar | FDO | 85 | 90 | 100 | 91 | 9.14% |
| Costco | COST | 94 | 86 | 100 | 84 | 2.22% |
| Kohl's | KSS | 94 | 72 | 100 | 67 | 0.60% |
| Gap | GPS | 100 | 74 | 99 | 76 | 0.57% |
| Nordstrom | JWN | 87 | 100 | 94 | 92 | -0.53% |
| Ross Stores | ROST | 94 | 92 | 98 | 84 | -2.15% |
| Toys "R" Us | | 96 | 90 | 100 | 78 | -4.30% |
| Limited Brands | LTD | 90 | 100 | 92 | 87 | -5.79% |
| Sears | SHLD | 97 | 79 | 100 | 60 | -9.09% |
| Target | TGT | 100 | 71 | 92 | 60 | -11.11% |
| Gamestop | GME | 100 | 80 | 100 | 57 | -12.78% |
| Best Buy | BBY | 100 | 64 | 88 | 47 | -17.68% |
| Wal-Mart | WMT | 100 | 66 | 83 | 49 | -20.48% |
| Bed Bath & Beyond | BBBY | 97 | 100 | 68 | 73 | -28.43% |
| BJ Wholesale | | 100 | 85 | 76 | 51 | -31.35% |
| Macy's | M | 100 | 73 | 61 | 40 | -41.62% |
| JC Penney | JCP | 100 | 89 | 56 | 42 | -48.15% |