Traditional Retailers Gain Online

NEW YORK CITY-Netflix might have remained the favorite website for holiday shoppers this year, but the online version of some brick and mortar stores increased in popularity compared to the same period in 2005, according to a survey of holiday Internet sales. On a 100-point scale, movie rental and sales portal Netflix scored an 86, topping the survey, which is conducted by firms ForeSee Results and FGI Research, for the second straight year.

The top gainers compared to last year’s results were Sears, reaching a score of 73 on a 7.4% gain, and J.C. Penney, which came in at 76, after improving by 7%. Other strong-performing online retailers with a major store presence were Old Navy, rising 6.8% to a 79, and Target, bumping up 5.7% to a 74.

Overall, Netflix was followed by online behemoth Amazon.com, which had a overall score of 84 and rose 2.4% from last year’s holiday season, recording the same gain this year as Netflix. The survey, based on the responses of 10,500 households, according to ForeSee, ranked sites on experience, merchandise, brand and price.