When you think "on-line retailers" who comes to mind first? Well, if you said Amazon you were right. They currently do 10.7 BILLION dollars in annual on-line sales. That's almost 10% of the entire 135 billion on line sales in the US.

What's their secret?

For one thing they make it easy to do business. It's also a one stop shop. Whatever you need, you'll find a company with an affiliation with Amazon. Amazon takes a huge chuck of each sale but to be visible on the number one site in the land makes it easier to swallow that large cut.

As a self published author with a little workbook designed to make planning a one-day retail sale easier I sell my book on my site, but also being able to say that it can be purchased from Amazon gives it additional credibility.

So what lessons can we learn from the top on-line websites? Internet Retailer has come out with the 2007 edition of the Top 500 On-Line Retailers. Their combined sales represent 61% of all on-line sales.

The top 10 Retailers are:

1. Amazon 10.7 billion
2. Staples 4.9 billion
3. Office Depot 4.3 B
4. Dell 3.9 B
5. HP 3.1 B
6. Office Max 2.8 B
7. Sears Holding corp 2.3 B
8. CDW Inc. 2 B
9. Sony Style.com 1.7 B
10. New Egg.com 1.5 B

For the complete listing of the Top 500 the site provides the listing of all the URLS, however, for information on their business model you have to purchase the book for $59. If you have an on-line business and strive to get your piece of the pie, it might be a valuable investment.

In the meantime, do you see an interesting pattern in the top 10 companies? Look how many have something to do with doing business. What does that say about us as a country? FYI CDW is a retailer of electronics as is New Egg. So except for Sears which might be selling clothes and household goods through KMart and Sears websites, they are all offering entertainment, office supplies, computers and electronic equipment.

Hmmm.

What do you think about that?

Deborah Chaddock Brown
Writer