S&P 500
7,507.80
-0.22%
Dow Jones
51,595.40
-0.32%
Nasdaq 100
30,411.80
-0.23%
Russell 2000
2,975.48
-0.09%
FTSE 100
10,384.80
-0.34%
Nikkei 225
71,987.20
+0.02%

Retail

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

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published

Invalid Image
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

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Laurel Road Review: Is It the Right Fit for You?
Austin Smith |

Laurel Road Review: Is It the Right Fit for You?
Bask Bank Review: Is It the Right Savings Account for You?
Austin Smith |

Bask Bank Review: Is It the Right Savings Account for You?

Continue Reading

Will Amazon Deal for Whole Foods Cripple America’s 38,000 Grocery Stores?
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Will Amazon Deal for Whole Foods Cripple America’s 38,000 Grocery Stores?

While it is too early to say whether Amazon's effect on the entire retail sector will spread to the mammoth…

Wal-Mart Shares Up 2%, Leading Dow Performance
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Wal-Mart Shares Up 2%, Leading Dow Performance

The performance of the Dow has been so poor that only two of the 30 components are up so far…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

The Renaissance Of E-Commerce (M)(JWN)(AMZN)(WMT)(TGT)

There are bits of research that say holiday e-commerce sales rose in the double digits over the Thanksgiving weekend and…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Wal-Mart Gives Women’s Clothing Another Try, Online

When Wal-Mart (WMT) tried to makeover a number of its stores to attract higher income shoppers, the effort was a…

Retail Bankruptcy Has Become Boring
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Retail Bankruptcy Has Become Boring

Lord & Tayor and Tailored Brands just filed for bankruptcy, adding two to the number of traditional retailers that could…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Online Retailers Hit 52-Week Highs As Same-Store Sales Collapse

Online retailer Amazon (AMZN) hit a 52-week high last week. So did Priceline (PCLN), Expedia (EXPE), and eBay (EBAY). Even…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Amazon Online Visits Over Double Wal-Mart’s

If Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, wants to target e-commerce powerhouse Amazon.com, it has a long way to go, at…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

What Walmart and Amazon Stock Prices Tell About the Holidays

courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.What happened to bricks-and-mortar and e-commerce sales this holiday season? If Wall St.’s opinion has validity,…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Amazon Online Audience Doubles Wal-Mart’s

The most damning criticism of Amazon is that it does not make money. It has, however, maintained a huge lead…

Top Gaining Stocks

CarMax
KMX • Vol: 7,330,419
Corning
GLW • Vol: 22,800,969
Intel
INTC • Vol: 233,719,006
Super Micro Computer
SMCI • Vol: 68,465,534
Enphase Energy
ENPH • Vol: 13,978,376

Top Losing Stocks

Accenture
ACN • Vol: 41,744,333
EPAM Systems
EPAM • Vol: 5,636,587
Cognizant
CTSH • Vol: 61,311,400
Coterra Energy
CTRA • Vol: 73,319,495
Kroger
KR • Vol: 26,704,230