Research company comScore has said that of the top 10 global retail and auction sites, Amazon Sites reached the largest global audience with over 282 million visitors in June, or 20.4% of the worldwide Internet population.
Other top brands in the study included eBay, with 16.2% of global Internet visitors, China’s Alibaba (11.3% reach), Apple Worldwide Sites (9.7% reach) and Japan’s Rakuten (4.2% reach).
comScore co-founder and chairman Gian Fulgoni said while retail e-commerce has already grown to become a $150+ billion annual industry in the US, it still presents enormous upside opportunity across much of the globe.
Fulgoni continued, "Technology has changed the way consumers behave, and increasingly they are opting for the convenience and pricing advantages offered by the online channel. Several global retail brands have already capitalized on this global consumer trend, and many other retailers are sure to pursue their share of the pie."
Analysis of the geographic composition of visitors to these select retail and auction sites revealed a mix of both globally distributed audiences and more regionally concentrated audiences.
Amazon Sites attracted 35.4% of its audience from North America, while Europe contributed 31.8 % of visitors and Asia Pacific accounted for 24.1%.
Apple Worldwide Sites attracted 32.0% of its visitors from North America, while Europe contributed 29.6 % of visitors and Asia Pacific accounted for 24.9%.
China’s Alibaba (85.7%) and Japan’s Rakuten (72.7%) reach sourced the vast majority of their traffic from the Asia Pacific region.
Of the 10 selected sites, MercadoLibre showed the strongest concentration of visitors from a single region with 93.3 % of its audience from Latin America. German retail site Otto Gruppe also had a heavy single region concentration with Europe accounting for 92.3% of its audience.
Wal-Mart had the highest concentration of North American visitors at 83.4%, while 45.1% of Hewlett Packard’s (HP’s) audience was North American, said comScore.
