According to Retail Forward's 2001 Top 50 E-Retail study, released yesterday, Amazon.com was the number one e-retailer last year generating $3.12 million in online revenue. Retail Forward notes that Amazon's revenue for 2001 represented roughly 22% of the total revenue for all 50 companies in the study. Interestingly, Retail Forward also finds that eight of the top 10 e-retailers in 2001 were multi-channel -- up from five in 2000 and just three in 1999.

Another recent story from emarketer highlighted the usage of different shopping channels among US consumers for home electronics. Indeed retailers who understand the importance of multi-channel retailing --and marketing -- should do well in the coming years. A study from Boston Consulting Group and Shop.org estimates that the multi-channel retail market grew by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 72% between 1999 and 2002.

And, in December 2001, Boston Consulting Group and Shop.org found that 76% of US retailers marketed their presence online either in their store or in their catalog during the 2001 holiday season -- up from 68% that did the same in the 2000 holiday. Also in 2001, 63% offered gift certificates online that were redeemable offline.

August 2002

Source: eMarketer.com