Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK

Analyst Weblog

Category Archives: Retail

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...

Twitter sending traffic to online media sites, but not online retailers

June 24, 2009

Thanks to everyone that listened to today’s Twitter webinar - we managed to reach capacity with 200 people logged in!. If you missed it, we’ll be posting the recording soon and will email / blog / tweet the link. In... Continue reading...

Apple iPhone 3G S vs Nokia N97

June 18, 2009

The launches on June 19th of two 3G touchscreen phones from the most searched for mobile phone brands in the UK, Apple and Nokia, have created a buzz in the Hitwise office this week. Hitwise UK’s resident gadget expert, Client... Continue reading...

Initial Bing stats

June 08, 2009

Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, was announced by Steve Balmer on May 28 and officially launched on June 3. I’ve held off putting up our initial UK statistics until now for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I couldn’t think of... Continue reading...

Top 100 student websites in the UK

June 02, 2009

Yesterday I received a call from Sridhar Venkatapuram of the London Business School asking me about the online behaviour of students in the UK. I mentioned on Twitter that I was pulling a list of the 100 most popular websites... Continue reading...

ITV.com traffic reaches record high thanks to Britain’s Got Talent

June 01, 2009

The Britain’s Got Talent final attracted 19.2 million viewers on Saturday night, making it the most watched non-sporting television programme since 2003. The ITV show, which was won by dance troupe Diversity rather than favourite Susan Boyle, picked up almost... 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...

Marks and Spencer traffic up 94% following 1p sale

May 21, 2009

UK Internet visits to Marks and Spencer’s website increased yesterday following the launch of its three day 125th anniversary ‘Penny Bazaar’ sale. While the traffic spike in the chart below doesn’t look huge, it’s important to remember that - as... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 09:15 AM | (0) | (1)
In Categories Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

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...

Shop opening times searches: an SEO opportunity?

April 14, 2009

While perusing this week’s fast moving search terms (i.e. the search terms in each category that experienced the biggest increase in volume between last week and the week before), the list for our Shopping and Classifieds category caught my eye.... Continue reading...

Festival fever and a good week for the NME

April 08, 2009

The sun may be shining, but it’s not quite time for the music festivals yet (it has to start raining for that to happen). However, following the release of the Reading and Leeds Festival line-ups in the NME last week,... Continue reading...

What would a Google-Twitter marriage mean?

April 06, 2009

Last week it was reported that Google is in talks to purchase Twitter. Therefore, now seems like a good time to revisit some of the stats, starting with the top level traffic figures. As the chart below illustrates, UK Internet... Continue reading...

Sales searches drive department store traffic

April 02, 2009

The spring sales have started on the high street, and department stores are the main beneficiaries online. While UK Internet visits to our Shopping and Classifieds parent category increased by just 0.9% last week, a custom category of ‘traditional’ high... Continue reading...

BBC F1 and the new England Kit

March 30, 2009

The Formula 1 season kicked off this weekend, with Jenson Button pulling off a surprise victory for the new Brawn team. This year the UK television coverage has returned to the BBC after more than a decade with ITV. In... Continue reading...

Mobile phones are the most searched for consumer electronics product; Apple the top brand

March 18, 2009

Today we have another guest post from our UK Client Intelligence Analyst and resident gadget expert, Richard Seymour. At Hitwise we are able to look into the fascinating ways that search data can provide insights and inform decisions about our... Continue reading...

Facebook the most searched for brand in the UK

March 05, 2009

Britain’s favourite social network and the second most visited website in the UK after Google, is also the most searched-for brand by UK Internet users. During the 12 weeks ending 3 January 2009, 1 in every 42 Internet searches in... Continue reading...

Searches for e-books double

February 02, 2009

Over the last year UK interest in e-books has grown significantly, with searches for ‘ebooks’ doubling between January 2008 and 2009. There are four main e-book readers currently available: the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, the Borders iLiad, and the... Continue reading...

eMusic and the Long Tail

January 20, 2009

The online music retailer eMusic has put out some interesting data that, it is claimed, supports the famous “Long Tail” theory of online retail. Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired magazine, coined the phrase in a 2004 article,... Continue reading...

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...

Healthy New Year? Gym traffic up, diet searches down

January 05, 2009

Happy New Year! Many readers - including the lucky ones who got a Wii Fit for Christmas - will be hoping for a healthy new year, and they’re not alone. It’s the time for New Year’s Resolutions, and getting fit... Continue reading...

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...

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... Continue reading...

Nintendo Wii and DS account for two-thirds of console searches

December 18, 2008

Nintendo’s Wii Console, which accounted for more than one in three games console searches in November, overtook Nintendo’s Wii Fit to become the UK’s most searched-for product in November. The company’s DS Lite was also the fastest growing console online,... Continue reading...

Apple iPhone pulls away from its closest competitors

December 18, 2008

While mobile phones continue to be the most searched-for product in the UK, they have seen a 23% decrease in searches since October as consumers turn their attention to Christmas gifts such as toys, video games and games consoles. Despite... Continue reading...

Retro toys dominate as searches for toys double in the run up to Christmas

December 18, 2008

UK Internet searches for toys doubled during November as the gift buying season began in earnest. Guess Who Extra, an updated electronic version of the classic 1980’s game, was the most searched-for game during November, accounting for one in every... Continue reading...

Pre-Christmas peaks in online retail traffic

December 16, 2008

In our retail webinar last week I noted that UK pre-Christmas Internet traffic to Shopping and Classified websites has already started to decline from its peak on Sunday November 30th. As the data in the chart below illustrates, the week... Continue reading...

High street retailers’ online demographics

December 11, 2008

High street retailers received 22% more UK Internet visits than online only retailers in November, and the gap is likely to widen during December. The chart below illustrates UK Internet visits to our two custom categories of high street and... Continue reading...

Netbooks account for 1 in every 7 computer searches

December 11, 2008

In the next instalment of Hitwise Client Intelligence Analyst Richard Seymour’s analysis of the consumer electronics market, Richard talks about another fast-growing consumer electronics area – Netbooks, the small to medium sized, light-weight, low-cost, energy-efficient laptops optimized for web usage.... Continue reading...

Just another Mega Monday?

December 10, 2008

Yesterday our friends at IMRG put out a press release stating that Mega Monday (i.e. last Monday, December 8th) online sales volumes were up 18% year on year. According to James Roper, CEO of IMRG, “Online sales are holding up... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 10:30 AM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

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...

Apple iPhone the most searched for mobile phone in the UK…just

November 18, 2008

Last week we reported that the Nintendo Wii Fit video game is currently the most searched for product in the UK. In that post we also identified the Apple iPhone as the third most searched for product, followed by the... 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...

Nintendo Wii Fit most searched for product this Christmas

November 13, 2008

Wii Fit, Nintendo’s popular video game, is currently the most searched-for product by UK Internet shoppers in the run-up to Christmas. During October there were more UK Internet searches for Wii Fit than the Nintendo Wii, the most popular product... 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...

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...

Supermarkets continue to grow online

October 17, 2008

While looking at the fastest growing retail sectors for this month’s retail webinar, we noticed that our Grocery and Alcohol has been doing well this year. As the chart below illustrates, its share of Internet visits has been increasing gradually... 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...

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...

Paid search rates by industry

September 09, 2008

We launched our New Search Intelligence tool in the UK today and, amongst other enhancements, it includes additional paid / organic search data. One great new feature allows you to measure paid search rates by industry, so I thought I’d... Continue reading...

Olympics winners: sports sites, bike retailers and sportswear manufacturers

August 29, 2008

Following the success of Team GB in Beijing, we were curious to see who else benefited from the Olympics hype. As the chart below illustrates, the most clear online winners were sports websites, both information and retail sites. UK Internet... Continue reading...

Fast moving search terms: Olympics, BBC iPlayer, UCAS and fantasy football

August 18, 2008

The 10 fastest moving search terms in the UK last week were: 1. ucas track 2. bbc olympics 3. fantasy premier league 4. dream team 5. michael phelps 6. tom daley 7. the sun dream team 8. joules 9. last... Continue reading...

9 in 10 UK searches are navigational / branded

August 14, 2008

We’ve just updated our data on navigational / branded search in the UK for our new research report, Managing Your Brand Online. During May 2008, 88% of searches for the top 2,000 search terms in the UK were branded in... 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...

Fast moving search terms: Olympics, celebrities and exams

August 11, 2008

No prizes for guessing what event dominated the fast moving search term list in the UK last week. Here’s the top 10. 1. beijing 2008 olympic games 2. olympics 3. craig jones 4. morgan freeman 5. olympics 2008 6. bernie... 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...

Facebook overtakes eBay to become third most visited website

August 05, 2008

Facebook became the third most visited website in the UK during July, overtaking eBay UK on the way. As the chart below illustrates, the social network received 2.75% of all UK Internet visits last month, equivalent to one in every... 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...

Movie & TV sequels: search behaviour and the retail gap

July 29, 2008

Yesterday we highlighted the appearance of four Batman-related terms this week’s top 10 fast moving search terms chart. A couple of weeks ago we posted about the relationship between searches for the recently released film Adulthood and its predecessor, Kidulthood.... Continue reading...

Fast moving search terms: Batman, Now Compilations, Festivals, Runescape

July 28, 2008

The 10 fastest moving search terms in the UK last week were: 1. now 70 2. christian bale 3. global gathering 4. heath ledger 5. batman 6. dark knight 7. womad 8. shipwrecked 9. runehq 10. hamfatter Four of these... Continue reading...

Superbrands: demographics and lifestyle information

July 23, 2008

The Centre for Brand Analysis released its list of the top Superbrands in the UK earlier this week, with Google taking the top spot after placing third last year. By looking at the profile of visitors to their homepages, we... 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...

Apple iPhone, O2 and the purchasing cycle

July 08, 2008

O2 started taking orders for Apple’s new 3G iPhone yesterday, and as you would expect it experienced a spike in traffic to both its homepage and online shop. Unfortunately the surge in demand caused the carrier’s site to crash, although... Continue reading...

Asos.com: growth and demographics

July 02, 2008

Internet clothing retailer Asos.com seems to have shrugged off the economic downturn by yesterday announcing that it had doubled sales over the last 3 months. Following our analysis of the rapidly growing UK online fashion market last week, this didn’t... 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...

22% increase in paid brand search rates following Google’s trademark changes

June 19, 2008

The top online brands in the UK have significantly increased their rate of paid brand search following the recent changes to Google’s trademark policy on May 5th. Before Google’s changes took effect (4 weeks ending 12/04/2008), 9.2% of the search... Continue reading...

Sainsbury’s website downtime analysis

June 19, 2008

Yesterday the BBC reported that Sainsbury’s had suspended its online grocery store, and looking at the site this morning that still seems to be the case. One of the great things about Hitwise’s daily data is that we are able... Continue reading...

Euro 2008 and British Football fans

June 11, 2008

Most of the rest of Europe is in the grip or football fever, but how excited is the UK considering that none of the home nations are taking part? ‘euro 2008’ was the most popular search term sending traffic to... Continue reading...

iPhone website reaches a new high as rumour mill goes into overdrive

June 09, 2008

Apple is expected to launch a new version of its iPhone at the Apple World Wide Developers' Conference in San Francisco this afternoon (UK time). As with all such events, the speculation amongst Apple fans and foes has almost reached... 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...

SATC more popular in UK than USA

May 27, 2008

The decision to hold the world premiere of the new Sex and the City movie in London has led to a surge in online searches in the UK. American interest in the film is yet to take off, although this... Continue reading...

Social networking and online shopping bigger in rural areas

May 22, 2008

This morning I noticed this article from the BBC highlighting a new Ofcom report which concluded that UK broadband penetration is higher in rural than urban areas. Or, as The Register put it, “Broadband bumpkins overtake city surfers”. Originally hailing... Continue reading...

Game cheats: GTA4, Mario Kart Wii and Halo 3

May 20, 2008

Following the recent launches of two popular video games, Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA4) and Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii, we noticed an interesting search pattern. As you can see from the chart below, searches for the game itself peak during... Continue reading...

Freesat proves popular online

May 14, 2008

The launch of Freesat, the free satellite TV service provided by the BBC and ITV in the UK, proved popular with online consumers during its launch week. UK Internet traffic to www.freesat.co.uk, the service’s online homepage, increased by 627% between... Continue reading...

Lawnmowers and BBQs: UK searchers celebrate the sunshine!

May 12, 2008

What a difference the weather can make, particularly after last year’s miserable summer! A week of sunshine has lifted the spirits of everyone in the UK, and also had an impact on their internet searching and shopping habits. As the... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 10:25 AM | (4) | (0)
In Categories Retail | Shopping and Classifieds | Weather

Mobile broadband searches increasing

May 08, 2008

It’s hard to open a newspaper at the moment without seeing an advert for mobile broadband services - from both carriers, such as Three, Vodafone and T-Mobile, and independent retailers such as Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U. The advertising seems to... Continue reading...

Apple iPhone UK price drop

April 21, 2008

Last week Apple and 02 announced that they had cut the price of the 8GB iPhone by £100 in the UK until June 1st. As always with Apple, the announcement generated a huge amount of media interest – including speculation... Continue reading...

Google Book Search on the rise

April 15, 2008

Recently, Google announced that it has released an API which enables websites to link to the books within its Google Book Search functionality. This allows users to preview the book in question in a similar way to the ‘search inside’... Continue reading...

Top 10 UK search terms: social networks dominate the list

April 14, 2008

We have just announced the winners of the Hitwise UK Online Performance Awards 2007, so congratulations to all of the websites that placed within their industry top 10. In addition to the top websites, we also announced the top 10... Continue reading...

UK DIY and Screwfix

April 03, 2008

Apparently, Good Friday is the busiest DIY day of the year, so I wasn’t surprised to see that traffic to our Shopping and Classifieds: House and Garden category increased noticeably during the Easter week. Slightly more unexpected, however, is the... Continue reading...

Retail price index and organic food

March 20, 2008

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has just announced the latest round of changes to the basket of goods it uses to calculate the UK retail price index (RPI). In addition to providing inflation figures, the make up of the... Continue reading...

Plural or Singular search terms?

March 11, 2008

One of the interesting conclusions that we drew from working with Steve Johnston for our latest Hitwise University Live session and webinar was the importance of plurals. The specific example we went through at the SES conference analyzed the difference... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 10:34 AM | (11) | (2)
In Categories Retail | Search

SEO for Mother’s Day

February 26, 2008

Mothering Sunday falls early this year, but searches for the term ‘mothers day’ have been on the rise for a few weeks, and last week were 6% higher than the equivalent week last year. The screenshot below illustrates the results... Continue reading...

UK Polish Internet usage on the rise

February 20, 2008

Estimates as to the number of Polish people in the UK range from half a million to over a million. Mass immigration from Central and Eastern Europe has led to a rush for the ‘Polish Pound’, with everyone from multinational... Continue reading...

Paid and organic search trends

February 14, 2008

One of the most powerful Hitwise tools is our paid and organic search data. We’ve been analyzing this and have come up with some interesting trends for the travel and retail industries. Before I get into the analysis; a quick... Continue reading...

Amy Winehouse: the benefits of good and bad publicity

February 12, 2008

“Camden Town is burning down” claimed Amy Winehouse during her Grammy acceptance speech and, unfortunately, parts of it actually were. The fire that ravaged through Camden Market at the weekend received a lot of coverage in the press, and as... Continue reading...

Moonpig.com, Valentine’s poems and romantic breaks

February 07, 2008

Online card delivery company Moonpig.com is currently experiencing its highest ever level of UK Internet traffic in the run up to Valentine’s Day. For the week ending 2 February 2008, UK Internet visits to the website have grown six-fold by... Continue reading...

Yahoo! and Microsoft: UK perspective

February 05, 2008

Following on from Bill’s and Heather’s posts, I wanted to share some UK data on the proposed Yahoo! and Microsoft deal. First up: webmail services, and as the chart below illustrates, Microsoft has a dominant market share with its Hotmail... Continue reading...

How important were final Christmas order and delivery dates?

January 31, 2008

One of the biggest challenges that online retailers face is delivering goods, particularly during the busy Christmas period. Many consumers (myself included) have had their fingers burnt when ordering online, only to find that presents for loved ones turn up... Continue reading...

Sales searches trebled in 2007

January 03, 2008

The number of UK consumers searching for post-Christmas sales online more than trebled during the 2007 holiday period. There were 249% more UK internet searches for the term ‘sales’ for the week ending 29th December 2007 than for the comparable... Continue reading...

Boxing Day busiest online shopping day in the UK during 2007

December 28, 2007

Today we put out a press release announcing that Boxing Day (26th December) was the busiest day for online shopping in the UK over the holiday period, and therefore the whole of 2007. In order to compare this year to... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 10:00 AM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

Top UK gift vouchers this Christmas

December 21, 2007

There a just a few shopping days left before Christmas and many people – most of them men - will be panicking about those last minute gifts. Vouchers are always a popular option and, as we pointed out earlier in... Continue reading...

Paypal vs. Google Checkout in the UK

December 19, 2007

Last week my colleague Heather Dougherty posted about the success of alternative payment providers in the US this Christmas. While Bill Me Later hasn’t yet launched in the UK, the other two major players - Google Checkout and Paypal -... Continue reading...

Supermarkets' online share increasing

December 13, 2007

Supermarkets have increased their share of the UK online retail market in the run up to Christmas. A Hitwise custom category of the top 45 supermarket operated websites accounted for 6.6% of all UK Internet visits to Shopping and Classifieds... Continue reading...

The demographics of gadgets

December 12, 2007

We came across this interesting claim from John Lewis that it expects to sell more electrical goods to women than men for the first time this Christmas. In order to test their prediction, I looked at the demographics of our... Continue reading...

Nintendo Wii the most searched for product this Christmas, despite UK shortages

December 05, 2007

The Nintendo Wii was the most searched for product by UK Internet shoppers during November. There were thirteen times as many UK Internet searches for ‘nintendo wii’ sending traffic to the Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds category as there were for... Continue reading...

Christmas market search trends

December 05, 2007

The setting up of a Christmas market just around the corner from the Hitwise UK office made me realize just how popular these seasonal attractions have become. According to Wikipedia, the first Christmas market was held in Dresden in 1434,... Continue reading...

Discount retail vouchers

December 04, 2007

Last week Gap hit the headlines with its 30% off voucher, which some wag photoshopped and forwarded on as a 60% off voucher. Whatever the problems caused by the fake voucher, it seems likely that they were more than offset... Continue reading...

Digital photo frames more popular than cameras this Christmas

November 28, 2007

We’ve just completed our latest hot gadget list and, given the amount of coverage they have received, I wasn’t surprised to see that the Nintendo Wii is currently the most searched for console in the UK, nor that the iPhone... Continue reading...

Child benefit chaos, football failure

November 22, 2007

Yesterday we left work wishing for two things: an English football victory; and that today would provide us with some interesting data about the impact of the Revenue and Customs child benefit crisis on the government and banking sectors. By... Continue reading...

High street retailers overtake pure-play retailers online

November 16, 2007

High street retailers received over half of all UK Internet visits to online retailers during October (based on two Hitwise custom categories consisting of the top 50 high street and non-high street online retailers in the UK, excluding online auctions... Continue reading...

Silver surfers become silver shoppers

November 12, 2007

Everyone knows about the growth of silver surfers, so in the run up to Christmas we decided to see what impact they were having on online retail. The chart below illustrates the segmentation of visitors to our Shopping and Classifieds... Continue reading...

Posted by Robin Goad at 12:00 PM | (1) | (2)
In Categories Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

iPhone UK launch

November 09, 2007

It hasn’t received much attention in the media over the last week so you probably haven’t noticed, but the iPhone goes on sale in the UK today. 02 is the exclusive British carrier, although the phone will be available via... Continue reading...