Nearly Two-thirds Of U.S. Internet Users Visited Amazon In The First Quarter: Wells Fargo

About 155 million people in the U.S. visited Amazon.com Inc. in the first quarter, which represents 63% of all internet users in the country for the period, according to Wells Fargo. None of the other companies covered by Wells Fargo reached more than 5% of U.S. web users, analysts wrote in a Monday note. Among their companies covered, the highest was L Brands Inc.'s Victoria's Secret with 3.8%, followed by Gap Inc.'s Old Navy brand (3.2%) and Nike Inc. (3.0%). "Even when extending to the department stores (who by definition have a broader customer base than a specialty retailer), only the Kohl's website attracts more than 10% of total U.S. web users," the Monday note said. For the quarter, Amazon accounted for 67% of addressable-market growth. "Addressable market" is retail sales excluding gas stations and food/beverage stores, according to Wells Fargo. This is lower than the fourth quarter, but "when accounting for seasonality of Amazon's sales (relative to the rest of retail), we see that Amazon's share of industry growth continues to climb higher," the note said. Amazon shares, which topped $1,000 for the first time last week, are up 0.4% in Monday trading. For the year so far, shares are up nearly 35%, outpacing the S&P 500 index , which has grown nearly 9%.