According to a recent Media Post article, Amazon’s brand value has risen to $27.4 billion, a 359% increase since 2006.
Experian Simmons DataStream confirms that over the past two and a half years, the average share of U.S. adults visiting Amazon.com in a typical month increased to 23% in 2010, up from 19% in 2008. During the same time frame, the average share of adults shopping at both Wal-Mart and Target stores showed a slight decline.
This trend is reflective of the fact that online shopping continues to gain popularity–even during difficult economic times. During the first six months of 2010, an average of 24% of all American adults made an online purchase in a typical month, up from 21% of adults who purchased products online during a typical month in 2008.
Consumers’ growing acceptance of online purchasing is not necessarily bad news for mega offline stores like Wal-Mart. In fact, many consumers turn to the Internet to research products that they will ultimately buy offline. And Amazon, with its trove of product details, pictures and reviews, has become a favorite among consumers searching for product information. In 2010, for instance, 59% of Amazon.com visitors who say they go online to gather shopping information also shopped at Wal-Mart and 45% made a purchase at Wal-Mart. In 2008, 51% of Amazon.com visitors looking for product information online shopped at Wal-Mart and only 41% made a purchase there.
Experian Simmons will continue to monitor this and other important consumer trends and share those findings here. To be the first to know when new insights from Experian Simmons DataStream are available request an alert here.