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: Shopping and Classifieds

12 Insights of Christmas

December 01, 2011

It’s December and as people crack open the first windows on their Advent calendars we thought we would make some predictions for Christmas 2011. In true festive fashion we’ve plumped for the 12 Insights of Christmas, and not a gold... Continue reading...

Are you attracting the right type of Facebook fans?

September 13, 2011

Back in June I wrote a blog highlighting our research showing that each new Facebook fan generates on average 20 additional visits to a retailer’s website. However, as every retailer knows, not all website visits are equal. Most eCommerce sites... Continue reading...

Retail recommendations for Christmas 2011

August 23, 2011

Last week we ran a retail webinar as a pre-Christmas planning session, talking about the top trends from last year’s seasonal peaks and what retailers could expect from Christmas 2011. For those of you that missed the session on Friday,... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by James Murray at 04:18 PM | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Shopping and Classifieds

Father’s Day 2011 emphasises the personal touch

June 17, 2011

This weekend is Father’s Day and in the run up to the celebratory day on Sunday, search term behaviour has revolved around, dates, gift ideas and cards. What becomes immediately apparent when looking at the search data for the last... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 01:18 PM | (0)
In Categories Retail | Search | Shopping and Classifieds

Bank Holidays better for online shopping than offline

May 27, 2011

This weekend will be the last Bank Holiday we will have in the UK until August. Throughout March and April there was a spate of days off, not least because of the Royal Wedding, so I thought it would be... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 03:02 PM | (0)
In Categories Shopping and Classifieds

Viking Direct has six-fold increase in traffic thanks to YouTube

May 13, 2011

If you saw last week’s blog about YouTube you would have seen that the online video site now accounts for 20% of all visits to social networking sites in the UK as the second biggest social platform after Facebook. YouTube... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 10:48 AM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Shopping and Classifieds

Sunshine boosts searches for BBQs, mowers and garden furniture

April 19, 2011

The weather has got noticeably nicer in the UK over the past couple of weeks. The days are lighter, the sun is shining and the first BBQs have been enjoyed. Online, the first optimistic signs of summer are usually greeted... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 11:31 AM | (3) | (0)
In Categories House and Garden | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

The changing facets of social shopping online

April 07, 2011

We had quite a few comments on my post last month about Groupon UK and the rise of social shopping. Given the interest surrounding this topic, I thought I’d follow up with a post which concentrates on the key differences... Continue reading...

Angry Birds get beaks into top 10 online retailers

April 04, 2011

Looking back at 2010 there were a number of games which left a profound mark on the industry. According to my esteemed colleague and resident Hitwise games guru James Murray: “Blizzard’s superb RTS sequel StarCraft 2, renegade space RPG Mass... Continue reading...

Will social shopping spell the end of discount voucher sites?

March 15, 2011

Have online discount vouchers had their day? A couple of years ago a lot of industries relied on discount vouchers in order to get them through the recession. The “credit crunch lunch” kept consumers walking through the doors of high... Continue reading...

Which retailers are leveraging the marketing power of Facebook?

February 24, 2011

You don’t have to look far online to find praise for Facebook. The UK’s most popular social network has been heralded as an indispensible tool for online advertising and social engagement for some time now. But which brands are making... Continue reading...

Morrisons can learn online lessons from Kiddicare

February 16, 2011

Yesterday supermarket chain Morrisons announced that it had bought baby products group Kiddicare for £70 million. The acquisition is an exciting development for Morrisons who can leverage Kiddicare’s digital platform to increase online sales and market presence. Currently Morrisons is... Continue reading...

ASOS capitalise on Facebook traffic with social store

January 20, 2011

Online fashion retailer ASOS announced yesterday that it would be opening a Facebook store at the end of January, allowing users to buy items directly from the social network rather than having to click through to the ASOS homepage. ASOS... Continue reading...

Christmas 2010 retail summary – the biggest post-Christmas shopping season ever

January 11, 2011

With Christmas over and the New Year in full swing it’s time for us to reflect on Christmas 2010 and the key trends in retail this year. The two biggest factors which affected online retail this Christmas were the December... Continue reading...

27 December second busiest day of the year in online retail

December 30, 2010

Over the last few days the UK Internet population have been prolific online, in one of the busiest post-Christmas periods ever. Boxing Day was the busiest day of the year for online retailers again this year, but the sales have... Continue reading...

Boxing Day the busiest day of the year for online retailers in 2010

December 27, 2010

Repeating the pattern that we have seen over the last few years, Boxing Day was again the busiest day of the year for online retailers during 2010. Yesterday (December 26th) UK Internet visits to online retail websites were 12% higher... Continue reading...

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

Christmas Day 2010 was the busiest ever for multichannel retailers

December 26, 2010

UK Internet visits to retail websites increased by 32% between Christmas Eve (December 24th) and Christmas Day (December 25th). With IMRG reporting that 4.8m British consumers spent £153m online yesterday, the real winners were the multichannel retailers. As the table... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 11:03 AM | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

Christmas 2.0 – a time for sharing (on Facebook at least)

December 23, 2010

Social networking has become an integral part of our lives and this Christmas more people will be sharing messages of good will with each other than ever before. As we get closer to Christmas Day visits to social networking sites... Continue reading...

2010 Online: the year in review

December 21, 2010

I can scarcely believe that a whole year has passed since I was sitting here writing the 2009 review, but 12 months to the day here we are, and it’s been another fascinating year in the digital world. Once again... Continue reading...

Tron searches dominated by Daft Punk soundtrack and light cycle game

December 17, 2010

This winter’s big budget film is Tron Legacy, and as with any major Hollywood release, in the build up to the film’s opening weekend, searches online have reached new peaks. In the last week searches for ‘tron’ have more than... Continue reading...

Amazon.com and fashion brands buck trend to increase traffic post Cyber Sunday

December 14, 2010

Despite last Sunday (5 December) being the busiest pre-Christmas day of the year for online retailers, some of the top retail brands actually received more visits from UK Internet users this Sunday (12 December) than the famous “Cyber Sunday”. After... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 02:28 PM | (0)
In Categories Branding | Christmas | Fashion | Shopping and Classifieds

Snoods, Boots and Snow Chains up after cold spell

December 10, 2010

The snow may be thawing but the cold weather has had its effect online by encouraging people to buy more winter clothing including jumpers, scarves and boots. In our latest press release we unveiled the most searched for products on... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 05:29 PM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Fashion | Shopping and Classifieds | Weather

When is Cyber Monday?

December 01, 2010

Cyber Monday is an American term that people have tried to import to the UK, but its British definition remains vague. In the US it refers to the Monday following Black Friday, which itself is the day after Thanksgiving and... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 09:03 AM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

Call of Duty Black Ops fans rejoice at Zombie return

November 09, 2010

At midnight last night thousands of video games fans queued to get their hands on the latest must-have game – Call of Duty: Black Ops. Obviously there were plenty of people who couldn’t buy a copy last night and instead... Continue reading...

Experian and Hitwise at ad:tech: What will be the hot products this Christmas?

September 21, 2010

If you’re visiting ad:tech in London over the next couple of days, be sure to pop over to the Experian stand (270a) and say hello to us and our Experian colleagues. At 10:30 on Wednesday I’ll be taking the stage... Continue reading...

New Amazon Kindle searches spike to challenge iPad mini

September 02, 2010

September has only just begun and already people are talking about Christmas. Planning committees are being assembled to organise the office Christmas Party, high street retailers are bringing out decorations and online gossip has turned to the hottest gifts for... Continue reading...

The Physio Room: content is king

August 24, 2010

Looking through this week’s list of fast moving websites, one that jumped out at me was The Physio Room, which last week ranked 15th in our Health and Medical category and was also the 12th most popular Sport and Fitness... Continue reading...

LoveFilm: the 11th most visited online retailer in the UK

June 17, 2010

Yesterday BBC Radio 4’s consumer affairs program You and Yours included an item on LoveFilm, the online DVD rental and movie streaming service. It included an interview with the company’s CEO Simon Calver, as well as myself talking about the... Continue reading...

Flag searches reflect the patriotic mood

June 03, 2010

You can’t have failed to notice the number of flags flying in the UK over the last few weeks. Many of those hanging from cars, pubs and windows across the land are England flags, but other nations are represented as... Continue reading...

World Cup 2010 searches and Panini football stickers

June 01, 2010

The World Cup is nearly upon us and, as you would imagine, the Internet is starting to go mad for it. Last week (w/e 29/05/10) UK Internet users searched for nearly 25,000 terms; a few were related to other events,... Continue reading...

Apple the most searched for consumer electronics brand as iPad launches in the UK

May 28, 2010

Apple’s iPad finally goes on sale in the UK today, supported by an advertising campaign and the usual smattering of media coverage. UK Internet searches for the device have been increasing in anticipation of the UK release; for the week... Continue reading...

Selfridges: the impact of a transactional website

May 21, 2010

One of the websites that fared well in my analysis of the online luxury market was Selfridges. The famous department store’s homepage has recently gone transactional, and this has had a positive impact on its retail ranking in the UK.... Continue reading...

Luxury and bespoke searches: travel, fashion and furniture

May 19, 2010

Yesterday I presented at the Luxury Interactive 2010 conference in London, and I thought I’d share a couple of the finding from the research that I carried out for the event. The first thing I did was to look at... Continue reading...

BBQ searches take off as the sunshine comes out

April 09, 2010

We might have only had a couple of days of sunshine following our cold winter, but us Brits have been anticipating the summer for number of weeks now. The chart below illustrates the volume of searches for the terms ‘bbq’,... Continue reading...

Mother’s Day: Woodlands Junior School strikes again

March 16, 2010

A couple of years ago we highlighted the extraordinary case of Woodlands Junior School, the best optimised school website in the UK. It appears high up on the Google SERP for popular seasonal terms such as ‘mothers day’, ‘pancake day’,... Continue reading...

Is Fairtrade growing in popularity?

March 12, 2010

Another guest blog by Jonny Steel, Insights Manager, mySupermarket-Insights.co.uk Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual event which aims to raise the profile of fair and ethical trading values. The supermarkets have been keen to get on board for the past few... Continue reading...

The dotcom bubble: 10 years on

March 10, 2010

Today is the tenth anniversary of the bursting of the dotcom bubble, so I though it would be interesting to see how the Internet landscape has changed over the last decade. Below is a list of the top 20 websites... Continue reading...

Travel sites show improvement in the latest IMRG-HITWISE HOT SHOPS LIST

March 03, 2010

Yesterday saw the release of the sixteenth quarterly edition of the IMRG-HITWISE HOT SHOPS LIST, which ranks by popularity, as indicated by visits, the top 50 UK e-retailers selling goods and services within the IMRG Index Classification. Click here to... Continue reading...

Top websites in France

February 09, 2010

Bonjour! It’s a very exciting day at Experian Hitwise towers today because we have announced the launch of Hitwise France! The Hitwise France service will provide clients with data on website industry and category rankings, Clickstream traffic activity, search behaviour... Continue reading...

UK Internet Map (as featured on the BBC’s Virtual Revolution)

February 02, 2010

If you managed to catch the first episode of the BBC’s excellent Internet documentary, Virtual Revolution, on Saturday night you may have noticed occasional flashes of “Source: Experian Hitwise” at the bottom of your screen. In amongst interviews with such... Continue reading...

Christmas Dinner – Homemade cheesecakes in; roast potatoes out

January 29, 2010

Guest blog by Jonny Steel, Marketing Insights Manager, mySupermarket.co.uk With Christmas now behind us, it’s time to look back at how our eating habits changed during one of the most financially challenging festive seasons for years. mySupermarket.co.uk, the grocery shopping... Continue reading...

Apple Tablet the fourth most searched for laptop in the UK

January 26, 2010

Apple’s much anticipated – but not yet even announced, just rumoured – Tablet PC became the fourth most searched for laptop model in the UK last week. The table below is from the latest Hitwise Hot Consumer Electronics List, and... Continue reading...

The profile of online shoppers becomes more affluent over the Christmas period

January 19, 2010

One of the things we discovered when helping to develop the new Experian Mosaic UK 2009 profiles was that the typical online shopper tends to come from a middle or lower middle income group. However, over the Christmas period, the... Continue reading...

Last minute surge in online retail traffic before VAT increase

January 04, 2010

The UK VAT rate returned to 17.5% on January 1st and, as a result, UK Internet searches related to the change also increased. As the chart below illustrates, searches for our “VAT Increase” portfolio (which includes terms such as ‘vat... Continue reading...

Shop opening times searches up 11% this Christmas

December 30, 2009

Just after Easter we wrote a blog about the popularity of searches for shop opening times / hours. That analysis showed that searches for retailer opening times spiked during the May and August bank holidays, over Easter, and at Christmas... Continue reading...

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...

TuneChecker and MP3 music download price comparison websites

December 18, 2009

One of the fastest moving search terms in our Music category last week was ‘tunechecker’, the name of MoneySavingExpert Martin Lewis’s new MP3 music download price comparison website. Last week the site ranked 49th in our Music category and, as... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 09:27 AM | (0)
In Categories Music | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

Online Christmas shopping: top towns

December 17, 2009

The last four weeks have been the busiest of the year for online retailers, and this presents a good opportunity showcase our new UK Postal Areas data. This allows us to segment website and category visits by UK Postal Area... Continue reading...

Apple iPhone and iPod Touch the most searched for products this Christmas

December 15, 2009

Visits to consumer electronics websites increased by 16.5% between October 2009 and November 2009 as the gift buying season started in earnest. This was the largest month-on-month increase in UK Internet traffic to consumer electronics websites this year. Searches for... Continue reading...

Cyber Monday: pre-Christmas online retail peak moves a week closer to Christmas

December 10, 2009

‘Cyber Monday’ (December 7th) and Sunday December 6th were the joint busiest days for online retailers so far this year. This means that the pre-Christmas peak in visits to online retailers has moved one week closer to Christmas this year... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 11:57 AM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

Online only retailers fighting back against the high street

December 02, 2009

Over the last couple of years we’ve highlighted how the websites of high street retailers pick up more traffic than their online only competitors (e.g. Amazon UK, Play.com, ASOS, etc.) at Christmas time. As the chart below illustrates, the growing... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 04:59 PM | (1) | (0)
In Categories Christmas | Retail | Shopping and Classifieds

Video Games searches overtake Mobile Phones following release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

November 20, 2009

UK Internet searches for video games increased by 28% last week following the release of the much hyped and anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. As the chart below illustrates, Video Games overtook Mobile Phones to become the most... Continue reading...

UK Halloween and fancy dress costume searches increasing

November 02, 2009

Judging by the amount of merchandise for sale in the shops, it feels like Halloween becomes more popular every year in the UK. And Hitwise search data seems to bear this out: the chart below illustrates the breadth of searches... Continue reading...

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...

Pre-Christmas sales searches: let the game of Retail Chicken commence!

October 09, 2009

We’ve written a lot about the growth of voucher searches and the emergence of the ‘maximising consumer’ recently. Indeed, UK Internet searches for discount vouchers continue to increase: as of last week, searches for our portfolio of voucher-related searches were... Continue reading...

Microsoft Xbox 360 takes console top spot despite Sony PS3 Slim surge

October 02, 2009

Over the last couple of Christmases, Nintendo (both the Wii and DS) consoles have ruled the roost, but it looks as if this Christmas things will be quite different. The chart below illustrates searches for our portfolios of console-specific search... 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...

Bee keeping and the Beehaus

August 10, 2009

Monday mornings are never the most cheerful time of the week, but mine are often brightened up by perusing our list of the previous week’s fast moving search terms. This morning the term that brought a smile to my face... Continue reading...

Searching to stay cool

July 06, 2009

Following last week’s heat wave, us Brits turned to the web in order to find ways to keep cool. The fastest moving search term sending traffic to our Shopping and Classifieds category last week was ‘paddling pools’. This was joined... 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...

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...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 09:15 AM | (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...

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...

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...

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...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 10:30 AM | (2) | (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...

Impact of the T-mobile G1 (google phone) launch

September 30, 2008

With Robin on holiday at the moment, he has asked me, Richard Seymour, the Client Intelligence Analyst for Hitwise to take the unenviable task of filling the Hitwise UK analyst blog void for the week! Luckily with the launch of... Continue reading...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 11:19 AM | (4) | (0)
In Categories Gadgets | Mobile phones | Shopping and Classifieds

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...

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...

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...

Tweet Posted by Robin Goad at 10:25 AM | (5) | (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...

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...