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Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK
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Pregnancy and baby searches
July 24, 2009
Hitwise Towers seems to be experiencing more than the usual number of pregnancies at the moment, and some have speculated that this might be something to do with the recession. Fortunately the Hitwise sample of UK Internet users is somewhat larger than 40 or so people working in our London office, so I decided to see if it could provide any further evidence.
For the 12 weeks ending 18/07/09 we tracked 97,000 distinct search terms containing the phrase ‘pregnancy’ and a further 94,000 containing ‘pregnant’. Looking at the latter list, it is particularly interesting to note how popular the ‘x weeks pregnant’ searches are. For the last 12 weeks, ’36 weeks pregnant’ was the 9th most popular search term containing the word ‘pregnant’, while ’37 weeks pregnant’ was the 10th, ’17 weeks pregnant’ the 11th, and so forth. As the chart below illustrates, searches for two popular terms, ‘pregnancy symptoms’ and ‘how to get pregnant’, have increased by 117% and 150% respectively over the last 12 months.
We don’t have a specialist baby / pregnancy category in Hitwise; rather, all of the content driven sites are contained in our Lifestyle – Family category. The chart below illustrates how traffic to the top 50 baby / pregnancy websites in this category has increased over the last three years. As you can see, UK Internet visits to my ‘Baby websites’ custom category has increased by 23% over the last 12 months. Perhaps more significantly, this is against a backdrop of declining traffic to the Lifestyle – Family category overall. Three years ago the top 50 baby / pregnancy websites accounted for 13% of visits to the category; currently the figure is 41%.
So, going by the evidence, it looks as if people are spending more time looking for baby and pregnancy information online – but what impact is this having on the commercial environment? The chart below illustrates the market share of the three biggest online retailers of baby paraphernalia – Mothercare, Kiddicare, and Mamas and Papas – within our Shopping and Classifieds category. As you can see, all three are currently experiencing record market share. This would imply that baby products may be more recession-proof that other retail sectors. However, I should also point out that keywords such as ‘cheap’, ‘used’ and ‘for sale’ are becoming increasingly popular amongst searches for prams, pushchairs and cots.
The reason for this sudden interest is in all things baby-related is that one of the new Hitwise children is actually my own. My wife gave birth to a wonderful baby boy last week, so I’ll be off on paternity leave for a couple of weeks. While I’m racking up my own visits to Mothercare et al, the blog and Twitter feed will be a bit quiet I’m afraid. But fret not: hopefully Richard Seymour will find the time for a post / tweet or two, and there’s always the wisdom of my colleagues in the other markets to keep you happy. Right, I’m off to change a nappy...
Posted by Robin Goad at 01:08 PM
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- Are Baby Products Recession Proof? (Create Interactive Blog)
Hitwise are reporting a significant increase in visits to baby and pregnancy websites in recent months. Apparently this trend that has been ongoing for the past three years. According to Robin Goad of Hitwise people are spending more time online looki... [Read More]
Comments
So reassuring to read that baby related searches are heading up. As a new baby products retailer we are always looking for information that supports why we are working 100+ hours a week! Our initial research suggested a baby boom could be coming (sales of pregnancy kits) and this analysis further reinforces that research.
Good luck with the new baby!
Posted by Alison Pike | July 24, 2009 02:20 PM
Congratulations to Robin and the family! Great to see that people are beating the recession in such a positive way.
The data that Robin unearthed reminded me of the report published in December 2008. It stated that sex was the most popular free pastime in the recession. Here is the full story in Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/3539872/Sex-is-most-popular-free-pastime.html. We contemplated on the possibility of the results of these two researches being linked on the company blog, as well: http://www.lakestarmedia.com/blog/post/2009/07/27/Recession-Boomers-Baby-Searches-as-the-Outcome-of-Sex-as-the-Most-Popular-Free-Pastime-in-the-Recession.aspx. Looking at the top chart, it does look like the February surge in searches could be a direct outcome of the "popular free pastime" that was recorded at the end of November. Also, the YouGov research indicated that sexual activity was particularly popular in the north of England. It would be interesting to see the geographical breakdown of the "pregnancy symptoms" and "how to get pregnant" searches - could it be that the majority of those are located in the northern areas?
Posted by Julia Shuvalova | July 27, 2009 09:59 AM
Congrats on the baby boy - hopefully JohnLewis.com can be your one stop shop for all things Baby related!!
Posted by Jamil Kassam | July 27, 2009 10:28 PM
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
Posted by Susan | July 29, 2009 03:41 PM
Congratulations to you! I believe that you'll be one of those "Great DADs" to your kid/kids.
Posted by Luke Alexander | July 30, 2009 07:52 PM
Robin, this is a great pregnancy post. I have just finished Bill's book "Click" & that is how I found HitWise. I'm in the health field and love learning what we really do not what we say we do from internet data. Thanks for helping us learn. Congrats for your new family member also.
Posted by GaryK | August 27, 2009 10:05 AM
Congrats!
This was very interesting to read..I am part of a company who do casts and imprints of babies and childrens hands and feet (babyprints.co.uk)and I heard on the grapevine that recessions are often tied to a birth rate rise (well sometimes staying in is better than going out!)
If you live near Potters Bar - I'd love to create a keepsake you'll love forever!
Posted by Lisa Haycock | August 27, 2009 08:48 PM
I wonder if "people's pregnancy data" could become a more reliable indicator of the state of the economy than the traditional economic stats politicians continually argue about.
Posted by Simon Foster | November 12, 2009 06:31 PM
Many congratulations Robin! Good luck with those sleepless nights. I'll think of you at 2am as I wrestle to feed my own tiny screaming baby!
Posted by Allister Frost | July 24, 2009 02:20 PM