Online Retailers

Who is the one of the five largest online retailers? According to BusinessWeek, it is J. C. Penny's:

In recent years, Penney's has consistently ranked among the top five Web sites in terms of the number of paying customers it attracts, according to Nielsen//NetRatings ... in the company of eBay, Amazon.com, Ticketmaster, and Bertelsmann's online music business. The achievement has gone largely unnoticed ...
Penney has one of the most productive Web sites among mainstream retailers, says Heather Dougherty, a Nielsen analyst. Internet sales accounted for 6% of Penney's $20 billion in total sales in 2006. That compares with 4% at Sears and less than 1% at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to Internet Retailer. Even more promising for Penney: The average age of its online shoppers is 25 to 35, considerably younger than those in its stores.

The WSJ Startup Journal has a cautionary take on guerrilla marketing stunts.