About Hitwise

Hitwise is the leader in online competitive intelligence. Contact Hitwise to maximize your online marketing programs.

Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK

Analyst Weblog

Category Archives: Economy

2009 online: the year in review

December 21, 2009

The end of the year presents and excellent opportunity for reflection, and also for lists. Combining the two, I’ve decided to reflect on the last year of online activity in the UK by providing a list of our most popular... Continue reading...

Property websites experience first increase in UK traffic for over two years

November 11, 2009

UK Internet visits to property websites increased by 4.8% between October 2008 and October 2009, the first annual increase in UK Internet traffic to the sector for over two years. The online property market was one of the first areas... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 10:10 AM | (5) | (0)
In Categories Economy | Postal Area | Property

Has the threat of postal strikes harmed eCommerce in the UK?

October 21, 2009

The threat of further postal strikes is one of the hottest political issues of the moment, and this is being reflected in our search data. As the chart below illustrates, searches for a portfolio postal strike related terms were up... Continue reading...

Searches for climate change and energy efficiency (Blog Action Day)

October 15, 2009

Today is Blog Action Day and, as with last year, Alan Long has beaten me to it with an excellent post on this year’s topic, climate change. I’m taking a similar approach, looking at climate changes related searches in the... Continue reading...

Car scrappage scheme online

August 25, 2009

The government’s car scrappage scheme has been live for a few months now, and the consensus from the industry seems to be that it is starting to have an impact on new car sales. Looking at our search data, the... Continue reading...

Voucher searches up 47.5% in a year

August 17, 2009

UK Internet searches for discount vouchers have increased by 47.5% over the last 12 months. The increase in searches for a portfolio of 4,500+ voucher-related search terms between the weeks ending 02/08/2008 and 01/08/2009 clearly reflects British consumers’ hunger for... Continue reading...

Content driven websites receive 73% more traffic than transactional ones

August 13, 2009

The chart on this slide illustrates the percentage of all UK Internet visits accounted for by the largest and most significant online categories – and how this situation has changed over the last three years. As you can see, there... Continue reading...

Are online discount vouchers on the decline?

July 01, 2009

As we’ve reported a number of times, online vouchers have been one of the recent online success stories. Voucher searches shot up massively in the run up to Christmas as savvy shoppers looked to find a bargain during the recession.... Continue reading...

Sims 3, top transactional websites and the latest Experian Insight Report.

June 04, 2009

Not a full blog entry for once, but a list of links to some other great content from elsewhere within Hitwise and Experian. Firstly, a great new blog from Hitwise Client Intelligence Analyst Richard Seymour on the rollercoaster ride of... Continue reading...

UK traffic to Polish websites declining

May 28, 2009

Last year we highlighted the massive growth in UK Internet traffic to Polish websites, noting how the increase in visits to a custom category local and expat sites reflected the growth of the Polish immigrant population in the UK. Things... Continue reading...

Increase in traffic to train, bus and coach websites

May 26, 2009

Despite positive news from Virgin Atlantic today, there is no doubt that these are tough times for the airline industry. UK Internet traffic to websites in our Aviation – Commercial Airlines category (which is dominated by the airline's homepages) was... Continue reading...

Mobile phone recycling searches treble

May 22, 2009

Internet searches related to the recycling of mobile phones have almost trebled over the last 12 months. UK Internet searches for a portfolio of mobile phone recycling search terms – such as ‘recycle mobile phones’, ‘mobile phone recycling’ and ‘phone... Continue reading...

Travel industry experiences decline in paid search

April 30, 2009

Last week I highlighted the overall decline in the UK paid search rate over the last 12 months, and focused on the retail sector in particular. I also promised to provide similar analysis for some other industries, so here is... Continue reading...

Budget 2009: paid search tactics

April 27, 2009

As you would expect, last week’s budget received a lot of press attention. UK Internet searches for the term ‘budget’ increased 27-fold between the weeks ending April 18th and 25th. However, as the chart below illustrates, searches for the term... Continue reading...

Online retailers receiving less traffic from paid search, but more from social networks

April 22, 2009

The amount of traffic that online retailers receive from paid search – i.e. from sponsored or paid for links on search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Live and Ask - has fallen over the last 12 months. During March 2009,... Continue reading...

UK Internet users spending more time on social networks than shopping online

April 21, 2009

UK Internet users are spending less of their online time shopping and more time browsing online media. During March 2009, 8.6% of all UK Internet visits went to online retail websites and 9.8% to social networking websites. A year ago,... Continue reading...

Interest rates: the relationship between online and offline behaviour

April 15, 2009

The Internet is now a key source of info for the majority of people in the UK. Consequently, search engines are one of the first places people turn to for information on everything from celebrity culture to the global financial... Continue reading...

Top 10 websites of 2008

March 03, 2009

We published the results of the Hitwise UK Online Performance Awards today. These list the 10 most visited websites in the UK during 2008 for over 60 industry categories. You can see the full list on the awards microsite, but... Continue reading...

“Money Saving Expert” Martin Lewis the most searched-for personality in the UK

February 18, 2009

Martin Lewis, creator of the “consumer revenge” website Money Saving Expert was the most searched-for personality by UK Internet users during the 12 weeks ending January 3 2009. There were 11% more searches for Martin Lewis than US President Barack... Continue reading...

Searching for the recession

January 28, 2009

Now that the UK is officially in recession, we thought it would be a good time to look at downturn-related searches. The table below charts the volume of searches for 4 key terms over the last 12 months, and of... Continue reading...

Flight search and travel data update

January 15, 2009

After reporting a decline in flight searches last week in the FT and on our blog, we received a number of comments: on the blog post, via Twitter and elsewhere. Many of the questions have been addressed in the comments... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 11:30 AM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Economy | Search | Travel

Vouchers vs. sales: battle of the online discounts

January 13, 2009

Around this time last year we reported that post-Christmas sales searches had trebled; a couple of weeks ago we noted that this year the increase was just 3.2%. However, if Christmas 2007 was the year that online sales went mainstream,... Continue reading...

Searches for flights down 42% on last year

January 08, 2009

UK Internet searches for flights have fallen by 42% over the last 12 months. January is a key month for the travel industry, as UK consumers’ thoughts turn from Christmas shopping to booking their summer holidays, but the economic downturn... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 11:00 AM | (9) | (0)
In Categories Economy | Search | Travel

TVs, Computers and iPods most popular sales items

December 31, 2008

The table below lists the 10 most searched for consumer electronics products last week (which included the key sales days of Christmas Day and Boxing Day) and the week before. Searches for televisions increased by 148% last week, making the... Continue reading...

UK online retail: Christmas round up

December 29, 2008

Given the economic conditions, people are watching Christmas retail numbers like hawks. Below are the key numbers for online shopping in the UK over the last few days. Sales searches up 3.2% Combined, UK Internet searches for the terms ‘sales’... Continue reading...

Traffic to E Cards websites up 11.8%

December 24, 2008

Yesterday I claimed that we’d written our final UK blog post before Christmas, but I thought this data was too interesting not to share! As the chart below illustrates, last week traffic to E Cards websites was up 11.8% on... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 08:30 AM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Economy | Search

Property websites and the online house price crash

December 17, 2008

In September we revealed that online House and Garden retailers had overtaken Property websites in terms of UK Internet visits. As you would expect, in the three months since that blog post, the situation has only got worse for online... Continue reading...

133% increase in voucher searches

December 09, 2008

A whole online sector has emerged to feed British consumers’ hunger for discount vouchers for everything from supermarket shopping and pizzas to discounts at high end department stores. One in every 200 visits to an online retail website now comes... Continue reading...

Pre-budget report: tax cuts and petrol prices

November 26, 2008

Given the economic conditions and the various rumours last week, the government’s pre-budget report has received a lot of attention online .Looking at the search data up to last week, you can see from the chart below that searches for... Continue reading...

Marks & Spencer and Debenhams sales

November 24, 2008

As many had predicted, the pre-Christmas sales and discount offers started in earnest last week, with Marks & Spencer and Debenhams amongst the high profile names offering reductions both on the high street and online. As you would expect, both... Continue reading...

Unemployment, redundancy and Christmas jobs

November 17, 2008

The economic situation has worsened since our post on ‘redundancy’ searches in June, and unfortunately this is having a negative impact on job security. Consequently UK Internet searches for ‘redundancy’ have increased by 83% since August, reaching their highest peak... Continue reading...

Eating out: afternoon tea, listing sites and the MoneySavingExpert

November 14, 2008

Last month we published a blog about recipe searches and promised to follow up with another post about eating out and restaurant websites. Well, here’s the post and there’s a lot to cover, from afternoon tea at the Ritz to... Continue reading...

Exchange rates, currency sites and the strong Dollar

November 12, 2008

Following our post on the interest rate cut earlier in the week, we’ve been looking at the impact of exchange rates on UK Internet behaviour. For the last few years, people travelling to the US from the UK (and the... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 09:00 AM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Economy | Financial Services | Travel

Interest rate cut: impact on search behaviour

November 10, 2008

Following last week’s shock 1.5% rate cut by the Bank of England, UK Internet searches for ‘interest rates’ reached a three year high. As the chart below illustrates, this also led to a spike in searches for ‘tracker mortgages’ and... Continue reading...

Online retail declines as Westfield opens

November 03, 2008

The economic downturn is beginning to have an impact on Internet retail in the UK. Monthly traffic to online retailers fell by 0.5% between October 2007 and 2008, while actual visits to the high street and shopping centers, as reported... Continue reading...

Economic downturn benefits budget travel and cruises

October 29, 2008

UK Internet traffic to travel websites fell by 4.6% between September 2007 and September 2008, but certain sectors are thriving despite, or in some cases because of, the squeeze on household budgets. UK Internet visits to a Hitwise custom category... Continue reading...

Second hand goods, classifieds websites and Freecycle beating the credit crunch

October 22, 2008

The number of UK Internet searches containing the word ‘second hand’ has increased by 22% over the last 12 months, as UK consumers look for new ways to beat the credit crunch online. During the 12 weeks ending 11 October... Continue reading...

Charity websites weather the credit crunch

October 15, 2008

Today is Blog Action Day, and this year the subject is poverty. Alan has already written an excellent post about the online charity landscape in Australia, so I thought that I would do the same for the UK. The most... Continue reading...

The cult of Robert Peston and BBC blogs

October 07, 2008

Is Robert Peston - "the face of the credit crunch" - the hardest working man at the BBC? The corporation’s business editor starts his day at breakfast time on the Today Programme and doesn’t seem to finish until bed time... Continue reading...

Irish banks benefit as UK online banking traffic reaches an all time high

October 06, 2008

The financial turbulence of the last couple of weeks has resulted in a surge in traffic to online banking sites. UK Internet traffic to websites in our Banks and Financial Institutions category increased by 9.2% last week, reaching an all... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 05:00 PM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Economy | Financial Services | Search

Credit crunch dominates fast moving search terms

September 22, 2008

Last week’s fastest moving search terms were: 1. ryder cup 2. hbos 3. northern rock 4. hbos share price 5. moto gp 6. share prices 7. aig 8. ftse 9. ftse 100 10. bloomberg As you would expect, the list... Continue reading...

Google Docs benefits from growth in job searches

September 19, 2008

Like Heather Dougherty in the US, we have also been looking at the impact of the credit crunch on employment sites. As the chart below illustrates, UK Internet traffic to Business and Finance – Employment and Training websites has shot... Continue reading...

Has the credit crunch killed ethical consumerism?

September 17, 2008

While the troubles facing the finance industry have picked up the headlines this week, the impact of the credit crunch continues to be felt elsewhere in the economy. One assumption people have made is that consumers will be less inclined... Continue reading...

DIY and furniture retailers overtake estate agents online

September 11, 2008

UK Internet visits to house and garden retail websites have increased by 20.5% over the last 12 months, despite the credit crunch and falling house prices. At the same time, UK Internet visits to estate agents and property websites have... Continue reading...

Fast moving search terms: Google Chrome, cautious investors, football and flooding

September 08, 2008

The 10 fastest moving search terms in the UK last week were: 1. google chrome 2. man city 3. bestival 4. environment agency 5. chrome 6. manchester city 7. burghley horse trials 8. nsandi 9. ns&i 10. setanta sports The... Continue reading...

Vouchers, price comparison and cash-back

August 13, 2008

Last month we highlighted how the economic downturn has led to a growth in UK Internet traffic to websites in our Shopping and Classifieds - Rewards and Directories category. Historically this category has been dominated by price comparison sites such... Continue reading...

High street retailers winning online shopping battle

August 06, 2008

High street retailers are pulling ahead of their online only counterparts when it comes to online shopping in the UK. As the chart below illustrates, the internet properties of the 100 largest online high street retailers in the UK, such... Continue reading...

Fast moving search terms: British Gas fallout, Beatrix Potter and diamond geezers

August 04, 2008

The 10 fastest moving search terms in the UK last week were: 1. beatrix potter 2. diamond geezer 3. southern electric 4. play.com uk 5. bbc cricket 6. u switch 7. carol vorderman 8. racing post 9. currys uk 10.... Continue reading...

Price comparison traffic up 37% thanks to economic downturn

July 15, 2008

With prices rising and the credit crunch biting, consumers are taking more time to find the best deals online. Last week we contributed to an Experian Footfall report which highlighted the downturn on the high street and in out of... Continue reading...

How to save money in a recession

July 09, 2008

Earlier this week I was talking with Bruno Rost, a colleague from Experian Integrated Marketing who was looking for interesting Hitwise data that he could use in a BBC TV interview discussing the effects of the economic downturn on peoples'... Continue reading...

Summer sales and email marketing

July 01, 2008

The summer sales are now in full swing, as you’ve probably noticed when walking around your local shopping centre / high street. As the chart below illustrates, UK Internet users continue to look for a bargain. Searches for both the... Continue reading...

Online fashion retail still growing despite high street slowdown

June 26, 2008

The CBI has issued a report claiming that clothing retailers have just experienced their worst month for quarter of a century. I can only assume that this fall in sales must be down to an underperforming high street, because the... Continue reading...

Redundancy searches: employee and employer behaviour

June 26, 2008

Recently we’ve looked at how internet behaviour has adapted a number of ways to meet the challenges of an economic downturn, including consumer spending, inflation and house prices. However, until now we haven’t touched on the most worrying aspect: unemployment.... Continue reading...

Mortgage calculators up, 100% mortgages down

June 16, 2008

When Abbey last month became the last big bank to abandon 100 per cent mortgages, it did so in the face of the credit crunch and falling demand from buyers. As the graph below shows, the volume of UK internet... Continue reading...

Online vouchers prove popular in bargain-hungry Britain

June 06, 2008

With the economy slowing and prices rising, everyone is on the lookout for a bargain. Vouchers have become a popular way of promoting discounts, particularly around Christmas time. In fact, they have become some popular that price sensitive shoppers are... Continue reading...

UK house prices: searches and sales

June 02, 2008

Heather Hopkins recently identified a correlation between house searches and house sales in the US. She compared searches for the term "homes for sale" with actual sales data from the American National Association of Realtors, and found that there was... Continue reading...

Petrol prices searches reach an all time high

May 28, 2008

UK Internet searches for ‘petrol prices’ reached an all time high last week in advance of yesterday’s fuel protests in London and Wales. As the chart below illustrates, searches for the term have been increasing since Christmas, and have shot... Continue reading...

All inclusive holidays popular in a weak economy

May 13, 2008

The combination of a weakening economy, falling house prices and a rising cost of living thanks to inflation mean that many British consumers are looking for ways to cut their expenditure. Add in the impact of a strong Euro (although... Continue reading...

Robin Goad

Research Director, Hitwise UK.

About Hitwise

Category Archives: Economy

December 21, 2009

November 11, 2009

October 21, 2009

October 15, 2009

August 25, 2009

August 17, 2009

August 13, 2009

July 01, 2009

June 04, 2009

May 28, 2009

May 26, 2009

May 22, 2009

April 30, 2009

April 27, 2009

April 22, 2009

April 21, 2009

April 15, 2009

March 03, 2009

February 18, 2009

January 28, 2009

January 15, 2009

January 13, 2009

January 08, 2009

December 31, 2008

December 29, 2008

December 24, 2008

December 17, 2008

December 09, 2008

November 26, 2008

November 24, 2008

November 17, 2008

November 14, 2008

November 12, 2008

November 10, 2008

November 03, 2008

October 29, 2008

October 22, 2008

October 15, 2008

October 07, 2008

October 06, 2008

September 22, 2008

September 19, 2008

September 17, 2008

September 11, 2008

September 08, 2008

August 13, 2008

August 06, 2008

August 04, 2008

July 15, 2008

July 09, 2008

July 01, 2008

June 26, 2008

June 26, 2008

June 16, 2008

June 06, 2008

June 02, 2008

May 28, 2008

May 13, 2008

Archives (view all posts)

Categories