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Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK

Analyst Weblog

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Spring has Sprung as have Searches for Garden Furniture

March 30, 2006

DIY retailers are entering their busy season with the lead up to Easter typically one of the busiest in terms of share of visits to House and Garden and DIY websites. Analysis of Hitwise data reveals that it is not only the spring bulbs that are delayed by inclement weather, but also shopping for garden sheds, garden furniture and green houses. The good news is that things are picking up and online retailers can expect a rush of visits over the next two weeks.

In 2005, visits to websites in the Hitwise Shopping & Classifieds - House and Garden category reached their second highest annual peak on 2nd April 2005 (second to Christmas). Visits to House and Garden websites saw a significant seasonal lift in late March/early April, as UK internet users prepared for home improvement projects and readied the Garden for summer. This year, spring certainly seems to have been delayed (witness yesterday's hail!) and UK consumers seem to be delaying some of their home improvement purchases waiting for spring to arrive.

Hitwise data reveals that visits to House and Garden websites were down 8% year on year last week. While searches for "weather" were up 26% year on year last week, searches for "garden sheds" were down 50%, searches for "garden furniture" were down 59% and searches for "greenhouses" were down 65%.

The good news is things are picking up - if a little later than normal. Compared with last week, searches for "garden sheds" were up 32%, "garden furniture" were up 53% and "green houses" were up 11%.

Understanding seasonality of consumer search and purchase behaviour and how external factors can influence this, is an important element that can help search marketers fine tune a search marketing campaign.

Tweet Posted by Heather Hopkins at 12:39 AM | (0)