Wal-Mart (WMT) Big Winner In Online Holiday Shopping Traffic

More than 13% of people who went to the top 500 retail websites went to Walmart.com for the week ending November 21. The number was up 77% from the previous week, which is not strange because interest in buying holiday gifts should be about to peak.

What is surprising about the numbers from online research firm Experian Hitwise is that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) did not do nearly as well, a sign that bricks-and-mortar companies may have an advantage over online stores because of their decades-old brands. Visits to Amazon.com were only .87% of total visits and that number was off 44% from the week before.

The numbers for Wal-Mart are not the only ones that support the theory that retailers with stores do well online. The percentage of shoppers going to the sites for Target (NYSE:TGT), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD), Toys ‘R’ Us, and K-Mart were each between 2% or 4% of the total. Wal-Mart showed its strength by having a larger percent increase from the week before compared to any of its competition.’

There is a theory that Amazon, eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), and other online-only e-commerce business will eventually ruin the businesses of the old store-based companies. The opposite may be true. Branding can count for a great deal when it comes to sustaining a business.

Douglas A. McIntyre