Hitwise Intelligence - LeeAnn Prescott - US
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September 27, 2006
TMX Elmo In Stock - the Search Quest
Last week parents and gift-givers flocked to stores and the web in an attempt to purchase what will surely be the hottest toy of the upcoming holiday season - TMX Elmo. It was released on September 19, and was immediately sold out at online and offline retailers. 'tmx elmo' and 'elmo tmx' were the most popular product terms that sent visits to the Hitwise Shopping & Classifieds category for the week ending September 23, 2006, trumping the usual #1 product term, 'ipod.' Visits to the Fisher-Price US website were up 75% versus the previous week, and visits to eToys were up 32% in the same period.
Hitwise search term analysis shows that searchers quickly adjusted their searches in their quest for the toy by searching for terms like 'elmo tmx in stock' and 'buy tmx elmo.' Of course you can now purchase it on eBay for more than twice the suggested retail price of $39.99. Otherwise you will have to wait until Fisher-Price ships more products. Forums and discussion boards are already abuzz with reports of shoppers spotting the new Elmo on store shelves, and there are pages dedicated to tracking its availability. My hope is that the shoppers' smart use of the Internet, along with the ability to pre-order online, will somewhat abate the frenzy at stores that I remember from the Cabbage Patch Kid craze in the 80s, and also allow more actual gift-givers than profiteering resellers a chance to purchase the product.
Posted by LeeAnn Prescott at 12:21 PM
Posted to Shopping and Classifieds
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