The 100 smallest retailers in the Internet Retailer 2007 Top 500 Guide outperformed the Top 100 in web sales increases, growing by 23% and 19% respectively. The industry average growth rate remained at 25%, compared to growth for all Top 500 companies at 21.3%.
Sales growth among the smallest e-retailers indicates that the web continues to be fertile soil that creates a national market for niche players, said Kurt Peters, editor-in-chief of Internet Retailer magazine, at a general session in this week’s Internet Retailer 2007 Conference & Exhibition in San Jose, CA.
Further evidence that the Internet enables the meek to compete with the mighty: the Top 25 retailers grew their combined 2006 sales to $52.9 billion, up 185 from $44.8 billion in 2005. By contrast, younger companies – those in business since 2004 – grew by 55%, from $319 million in 2005 to $494 million in 2006.
The largest retailers still racked up imposing numbers and the ranks of billion-dollar retailers rose to 17 from 14 in 2006, Peters said. And total sales for the bottom 300 retailers were equal to Amazon.com’s sales growth in 2006 of $2.2 billion.
Among the largest online retailers, familiar names held down the top spots: Amazon.com was No. 1 as it was last year, followed by Staples and Office Depot – who flipped positions from the 2006 rankings. However, keeping up with or exceeding the industry’s 25% growth rate was accomplished only by Amazon and Staples at 26% and 29%.
Click here for more information on the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
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