Early reports of on-line retail activity over the Christmas sales
period suggest a healthy level of success for major dot.coms,
despite the downturn in investor confidence in the B2C e-commerce
market and comparatively weak off-line sales.
According to initial reports, Amazon.co.uk sold 3.2 million
items in the period between 2nd November and 19th December, twice
its 1999 figure. Over a similar period, Tesco.com’s sales of
groceries and general purpose goods numbered 60,000 per week,
taking its total sales for the year to around £200 million.
In the US, according to a report by Goldman Sachs and PC Data,
an internet research company, on-line Christmas shopping reached
$8.7 billion, double the figure for 1999. Members of AOL, the
leading ISP in the US, appear to be responsible for a significant
part of this figure, having accounted for sales of $4.6 billion, an
84% rise on last year, according to the company.
There is still some dispute about the unofficial figures being
quoted by companies and analysts. Official figures are expected
later this month which could have an important bearing on investor
confidence. The business models which helped fund many current
internet retailers relied on a massive increase in on-line
shopping; the official Christmas sales figures will help determine
whether that growth is taking place fast enough.
