HITWISE UK CHRISTMAS SHOPPING UPDATE #2

Retail websites surpass the Christmas 2004 peak.

Barbie and Bratz set to be popular Christmas gifts this year.

London, 23rd November 2005
With retailers in the throws of the busy Christmas shopping season, Hitwise - the leader in online competitive intelligence - today reports that UK visits to retail websites have already surpassed last year’s peak. Visits to retail websites ended last week 5% higher than the week ending 4th December 2004, the strongest week for visits to retail websites in 2004.

“In August, Hitwise predicted that visits to retail websites would peak the week ending 3rd December 2005, and with two weeks to go until the projected peak, retail sites have already passed last year’s high” said Heather Hopkins, Director of Research for Hitwise UK. “At the current rate of growth, online retailers are set to have their best year yet.”

While Robbie Williams stole the show, traditional children’s toys join hyped games as the most popular retail searches

In the week ending 19th November 2005, Robbie Williams dominated the top 20 product searches sending visits to retail websites. With tickets for his 2006 tour going on general release on Saturday 19th November and selling out within 3 hours, Hitwise data reveals that searches for ‘robbie williams tickets’ topped the list as the most searched-for product term, up from fourth the previous week. Last week, searches for ‘robbie williams’ were 10 times higher than for ‘madonna’, whose new album and single are riding high at the top of the charts.

Hitwise Search Intelligence reveals that Apple’s iPod is set to be a big hit again this Christmas, with searches for ‘ipod’ and ‘ipod mini’ among the top 20 search queries. Searches for ‘ipod’ increased 8% in the week ending 19th November 2005, compared with the previous week.

Bratz and Barbie are also set to be popular gifts this Christmas, holding their own amongst the top 20 product search terms, alongside the latest games and gadgets. Bratz seems to be gaining in popularity, with searches for ‘bratz’ overtaking searches for ‘barbie’ for the week ending 19th November 2005. Searches for ‘bratz’ increased 41% compared with two weeks earlier.

 PSP continues to be more popular than the much-hyped Xbox 360

On the heels of the announcement that Nintendo DS will be Wi-Fi enabled from 25th November, searches for ‘nintendo ds’ nearly tripled in the week ending 19th November 2005 compared with the week previous. However, searches for ‘nintendo ds’ remain far behind searches for ‘psp’ and ‘xbox 360’. The volume of all UK searches that include the keyword ‘psp’ or ‘xbox’ are 3 times higher than those that include the keyword ‘nintendo’, with PSP the most searched-for.

“Searches for ‘psp’ remain ahead of those for ‘xbox’ despite the much-hyped launch of the Xbox 360 in the US this week and in the UK the first week of December”, said Hopkins. “UK consumers have been warned that the consoles will be in short supply, and that those who don’t pre-order will be left disappointed. However, it would appear that consumers don’t seem panicked, just yet.”

Sign Up For the Hitwise Analyst Weblog

In addition to the UK Christmas Shopping Series 2005 weekly instalments, Heather Hopkins will provide further retail analyses via her weblog at http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-hopkins/. 

Weekly Market Share of UK Visits to Shopping & Classifieds Websites April 2004 – November 2005

Weekly Volume of UK Searches that include the keyword ‘xbox’, ‘psp’ and ‘nintendo’ August 2004 – November 2005

* Growth comparing share of visits the week ending 19^th November and 12^th November 2005
** Does not include stand-alone visits to other eBay sites (eBay.com, eBay Motors, My eBay)

About Hitwise:

Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise measures how more than 25 million internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.

By measuring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites.  Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as affiliate programs, search marketing, online advertising, content development and lead generation.

Hitwise collects internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.co.uk

For up to date analysis on online trends, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence-Analyst Weblogs at weblogs.hitwise.com.

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