Though July was slow for online sales, well-established brick-and-mortar retailers demonstrated renwed online strength. Jcpenney.com, sears.com, spiegel.com, bestbuy.com and staples.com were among e-tailers who advanced in the month's purchase rankings. Jcpenney.com had 218,000 "unique buyers" in the month, according to PC Data Online, and jumped from a 10th place ranking to 7th in terms of website activity. Sears.com had 207,000 unique buyers, and jumped to 8th place.
"The demographics in online shopping are shifting away from the MTV generation, and more towards women between the ages of 35 and 44," explains John Megahed, director of online research and analysis for PC Data Online. "And those shoppers gravitate towards what they know and feel comfortable with."
PC Data (Reston, Va.) has provided technology intelligence and research for 10 years. It conducts real-time Internet surveys through a panel of more than 120,000 home Internet users.