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Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK

Analyst Weblog

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Last minute surge in online Christmas shopping

December 23, 2008

There was a last minute surge in UK Internet traffic to online retailers at the end of last week. Looking at UK Internet traffic to Shopping and Classifieds websites, here are the annual increases in visits vs. the comparable day last year (2007):

• Thursday December 18: +1.2%
• Friday December 19: +2.6%
• Saturday December 20: +1.4%
• Sunday December 21: +3.9%

The year-on-year increase in traffic to online retailers this weekend compares favourably to the continuing decline in traffic on the high street. Whereas Hitwise online data shows an annual 1.4% increase in traffic to online retailers on Saturday 20 December and 3.9% on Sunday 21 December, the preliminary interim data from Experian Footfall shows an 8.4% decrease on Saturday and 9.4% decrease in Sunday.

The main beneficiaries of the increase in traffic to online retailers are the websites of high street retailers, which experienced a 2.7% annual increase in traffic on Saturday and a 5.9% increase on Sunday. In, addition, iTunes experienced a significant increase in traffic last week, no doubt fuelled by interest in Alexandra Burke’s Christmas #1.

Here are four online retailers that experienced a significant annual increase in UK Internet traffic (week ending 20 December 2008 vs. 22 December 2007):

• Sainsbury’s Groceries (www.sainsburys.com/groceries): +17.1%
• Apple iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes): +15.2%
• T-Mobile Shop (www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop): +14.4%
• Jessops (www.jessops.com): +4.5%

The closer we get to Christmas, the bigger the advantage high street retailers have over the online only rivals. Whereas many online only players have now stopped taking orders for pre-Christmas delivery, high street retailers can continue using their website either to take ‘click and collect’ orders, or simply to advertise in store offers.

This is our last blog post before Christmas, but there will be at least one more update before New Year looking at Boxing Day retail traffic (interesting to see that somethign silimar also happens in Australia). Merry Christmas from all at Hitwise UK, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter!