(San Francisco, CA; Business
Wire; August 21, 2001) Reflecting the traditional
retail environment, value and discount shopping outlets
attracted online buyers in the month of July, revealed
the eCommerce Index(SM), from NextCard® (Nasdaq:NXCD
- news). The eCommerce Index(SM) is the premier metric of
monthly online consumer spending and is the only resource
that reflects actual consumer e-commerce spending based
on online credit card transactions.
``July saw an overall increase in
transactions at value sites,'' said Scott Lascelles,
group vice president of loyalty marketing at NextCard.
``HomeShoppingNetwork.com, an extension of the cable
shopping channel, performed particularly well. It rose 61
spots to No. 8 in the Top 20 merchants, a gain of 630
percent.''
``Software sites UnBeatableDeals.com,
FreeCDSoftware.com and Real.com were top performers in
July in terms of overall online transactions and growth.
As children head back to school, parents are preparing
family computers for the academic year and looking for
cheaper, more convenient ways to do it,'' said Lascelles.
``Western Union's online auction
payment service, BidPay.com, is gaining in popularity and
appeared on the Index for the first time. Consumers love
auction sites like EBay, the No. 3 merchant and UBid.com,
No. 5. Services that finalize transactions and facilitate
payments make auction buying and selling a snap,'' said
Lascelles. ``Western Union has long been a bellwether
offline brand and its online service is benefiting from
the strong association.''
``July is traditionally a quiet time
of year for retail and this is reflected in this month's
eCommerce Transaction Index. History tells us that
average basket size will increase moving into the Holiday
period,'' said Lascelles.
Top 20 Online Merchants in July 2001
The NextCard eCommerce Index is a
monthly listing of the top Web sites based on the number
of online transactions by more than one million NextCard
cardholders.
1-10
Rank Change Merchant
Consecutive
Months
=============================================================
=============================================================
1. -- Amazon.com 27
2. -- Half.com 15
3. -- EBay.com 27
4. +3 BarnesandNoble.com 27
5. +4 UBid.com 27
6. -- Netflix.com 17
7. -2 Priceline.com 18
8. +61 HomeShoppingNetwork.com
1
9. -1 Buy.com 26
10. +1 CDNow.com 27
=============================================================
11-20
Rank Change Merchant
Consecutive
Months
=============================================================
=============================================================
11. -2 Drugstore.com 26
12. -2 Stamps.com 8
13. +1 BigZoo.com 10
14. +7 Real.com 1
15. -3 1-800-Flowers.com 18
16. -3 VistaPrint.com 2
17. -- Classmates.com 2
18. +7 AOL Long Distance 1
19. -3 Keen.com 5
20. -- Western Union Bidpay.com
1
=============================================================
eCommerce Transaction
Tracker
The NextCard eCommerce Transaction
Tracker reflects average individual transaction size at
five sample online retailers for 2001.
Merchant 2000 Avg. Jan Feb
Mar
Amazon.com $42.31 $37.78 $42.97
$40.13
-----------------------------------------------------------------
EBay.com $33.55 $38.31 $35.47
$36.59
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Priceline.com $305.15 $265.51 $299.50
$279.26
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Half.com $16.40 $16.40 $17.30
$15.88
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Buy.com $88.47 $97.54 $101.12
$95.15
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Apr May June July
Amazon.com $40.30 $45.41 $42.85
$38.65
-----------------------------------------------------------------
EBay.com $39.63 $37.57 $36.61
$35.01
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Priceline.com $257.43 $266.65 $271.06
$239.47
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Half.com $15.30 $18.94 $19.30
$21.19
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Buy.com $99.71 $113.77 $112.53
$102.41
-----------------------------------------------------------------
July eCommerce Movers
The NextCard eCommerce Movers(SM) is a
monthly listing of the top online merchants that
experience the largest percentage change in transaction
volume from the previous month.
=============================================
5 Biggest Movers
=============================================
1. HomeShoppingNetwork.com
630%
2. UnBeatableDeals.com 164%
3. KBKids.com 81%
4. FreeCDSoftware.com 78%
5. Kiss.com 78%
=============================================
The NextCard eCommerce Index can be
found on the Internet by visiting www.nextcard.com and
clicking on the "eCommerce Index" link.
eCommerce Transaction Index
The NextCard eCommerce Transaction
Index reflects relative monthly average purchase amounts
at ten sample online retailers. It uses the 2000 calendar
year average as its base of 100.
Merchants in the Transaction Index
include:
Amazon.com EBay.com
BarnesandNoble.com Gap.com
Buy.com Half.com
CDNow.com Netflix.com
Drugstore.com Priceline.com
To view the graph associated with the
eCommerce Transaction Index, please visit
www.nextcard.com and click on the "eCommerce Index"
link.
About The NextCard eCommerce Index
The NextCard eCommerce Index is a
monthly report of the top 20 online merchants and top
five movers, average e-commerce basket size based on ten
online merchants, and average individual basket size at
five specific online merchants. The Index is based on the
number of actual, online purchase transactions by
approximately one million NextCard cardholders. The
NextCard eCommerce Index combines two critical components
to accurately reflect online transaction activity: 1) a
large cardholder base of active online purchasers and 2)
data-mining technology that tracks online credit card
transactions. NextCard customers are some of the most
sophisticated online consumers and make online purchases
approximately five times more often than the average
online credit card user. As a result, the NextCard
eCommerce Index not only provides valuable information
about where online consumers are actually buying, but it
also reflects the ability of merchants to convert Web
visitors to buyers, and buyers to repeat customers. The
Index can be found on the Internet at www.nextcard.com.
About NextCard
NextCard, Inc. (www.nextcard.com) is
considered the leading issuer of consumer credit on the
Internet. Launched in 1997, the Company was the first to
offer instant online credit card approval, a choice of
customized credit card offers, and exceptional online
customer service. NextCard is committed to providing the
most robust consumer shopping experience on the Internet
and has continued to innovate with its NextCard
Concierge(SM) online shopping service, online bill
payment services, and comprehensive rewards program.
NextCard is also one of the leading
direct marketers on the Internet, operates a network of
more than 90,000 online affiliates, and has exclusive
card relationships with leading online brands, including
Amazon.com and MyPoints.com.
NextCard was named the No. 1 Internet
credit card by Gomez. According to the 2001 Brittain
Associates ``Credit Cards on the Net'' study, NextCard
leads the online credit card market with a 26 percent
share. NextCard was nominated for a 2000 Webby Award in
the finance category. NextCard, Inc. issues credit cards
through NextBank N.A., a wholly owned
subsidiary.