Top 10 Online Stores By Volume

People in my work and social circles are often asking me who the top 10 online stores are (and how much they sell). That's a tough question to answer because the reported numbers are often voluntary. Furthermore, the Internet Retailer Guide has only been available for a few years - and it's not free.

Top 10 Online Stores By Volume

The top 10 online retailers, by revenue in 2007:

1. Amazon.com, $14.8 billion
2. Staples, $5.6 billion
3. Office Depot, $4.9 billion
4. Dell, $4.2 billion
5. HP, $3.36 billion
6. OfficeMax, $3.16 billion
7. Apple, $2.7 billion
8. Sears, $2.59 billion
9. CDW, $2.41 billion
10. Newegg.com, $1.9 billion

Source: Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide



Past Top 10 Online Stores By Volume

I worked hard to pull the next numbers together. I finally found the top 10 list from 2000 after a long, exhaustive, 5-minute Internet Search.

The top 10 online retailers, by revenue in 2000:

1. Wal-Mart - 193.3 billion
2. Kroger
3. Home Depot
4. Sears, Roebuck and Company
5. Kmart
6. Albertson's
7. Target
8. JCPenny
9. Costco
10. Safeway

Other Notable Mentions:

46. Barnes & Noble
66. Amazon.com


Online Revenue For The Top 100 Sites:

• 1999 - $963.2 Billion
• 2000 - $1.06 Trillion

Source: Cached Version of About.com Retail Industry News

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Are Coupons Today's Key To Online Sales?

We at First Scribe don't claim to be economists but we know a tough market when we see one. Bloomberg.com reports the Dow Average's Drop into a bear market and many are feeling the pinch.

How is it affecting online sales?

High gas prices can actually be a boon to online revenue. Online retail studies are showing that nationwide, shoppers are increasingly looking at the Internet earlier in the buying process. Unfortunately, we are seeing numbers down on the Internet as well.

So, what to do about sinking online sales numbers?

If summer is your season and your numbers are down, we don't need to tell you that it's time to move. Here's a few quick ideas to turn some numbers:

1. Create a coupon with a limited-time offer. Put a big-old button that allows them to email it to a friend. Maybe you give them a better deal for each friend they email (up to a point, obviously). The idea is to get your site under as many noses as possible. A coupon is a tangible item they print/hold during an online purchase.
   
   
2. Offer free shipping or free in-store pickup. Gas prices are a quantifiable issue and free shipping speaks right to the problem. Ten percent off is a great idea but free shipping will save them a trip in the car.
   
   
3. Send 2 email blasts. Split your database in half; send a shipping offer to one half and a percentage off to the other half. Then, measure the results and hit the weak half with the opposite offer.
   
   
4. Make sure everything on your website is in stock and ready to go. People visit your website to buy - not to browse your stock issues. If it's out of stock, get it off the site.
   
   
5. Finally, put something on sale and make sure people know it's On Sale. Get the featured item on your home page change to another item if you don't sell any within 1-2 business days.
   

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Most Popular Google Searches -- Part 2

In January we posted a reference to Google's Zeitgeist - a listing of the previous year's most popular Google searches.

This posting received a lot of search traffic so we decided it was time to add another tidbit.

Back By Popular Demand - Part 2!

It appears that Google has the kinks worked out of their new Google Hot Trends tool. This tool shows you the top 100 most searched terms in the Google search engine. You can even change the date to look at specific days - back to May 15, 2007.

Your Mileage May Vary

I don't know how useful this information is to the general public. I honestly doubt some of the keywords that it displays, such as this beauty ranked #65 on May15, 2007 -

"what clinton aide once felt compelled to explain that “i talked to the white house” meant he talked to some people and not to the building".

We look at the content for trends but I find it very hard to believe that phrase was among the top 100 for the day.

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