Apple Surpasses Walmart in Online Shoppers

December 23, 2011

Walmart might be one of the biggest retailers in the world, but Apple is the company with the most online shoppers as of November 2011 according to comScore (as reported by Ad Age).

There is one thing that’s pushing Apple ahead of Walmart — iTunes. Of the 79 million unique visitors to the Apple website from the United States in November, 30% of them came for the iTunes digital content store.

Digital content sales are exploding everywhere, and it’s a trend that’s going to continue to grow. Consumers are purchasing more digital content, including music, television shows, movies, and books than ever. With the skyrocketing sales of the iPad and similar tablet devices, more and more consumers are shifting their media consumption habits to digital content every day.

comScore reports that ecommerce sales are up by approximately 15% over a year ago, but digital content sales are up twice as much. In fact, Ad Age reports that December 25th has been dubbed “Download Day” because so many people are looking for content for the devices they received as Christmas gifts that day. Between December 25th through January 1st is the period each year when the most most digital downloads occur.

The rise of Apple’s iTunes traffic and download sales shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. What’s surprising is that so few competitors are making headway against Apple and the iTunes store. It will be interesting to look at these statistics again next year at this time to see how Apple and competitors are doing in the download market.

Another interesting point to consider is the overall trend toward digital content consumption and how that shift will affect download sales throughout the year. There’s no going back now. Digital is here to stay. Can another company compete with Apple in the short-term? Now is the time for someone to make a move.

What do you think? Who can give Apple a run for the money? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Flickr

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Susan Gunelius

President & CEO at KeySplash Creative, Inc.

Susan Gunelius is the author of multiple marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and blogging books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, a leading blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com, a featured writer for Forbes.com, and the Guide to Blogging for About.com. Additionally, her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, WashingtonPost.com, TheStreet.com, SmartMoney.com, TodayShow.com, BusinessWeek.com, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Small Business, and more. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Susan also appears at in-person and virtual events where she speaks about marketing, branding, social media, and more (visit www.SusanGunelius.com for more information). You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.