Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

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December 12, 2005

DealsDirect.com.au overtakes Amazon UK as Online Department Stores visits surge

Visits to Shopping and Classifieds - Department Stores online by Australian Internet users have spiked leading up to Christmas, increasing by 12% for the week ending December 3, 2005. A significant driver of growth to the category was visits to DealsDirect.com.au, which spiked by 62.8% for the week ending December 3, 2005. DealsDirect.com.au offers bargain shopping on a wide range of products from automotive and tools to toys, games, gifts and watches. The Australian website increased its position to the second most popular online Department store, behind only Amazon.com.

DealsDirect.com.au succeeded however in overtaking Amazon UK for the first time, indicating a desire by Australian Internet users to shop at local online properties. Visits to local websites in Shopping and Classifieds - Department Stores were up 25.9% compared to the same week last year.

Kmart Australia also contributed to growth in Department Stores online for the week, jumping from 6th to 4th position and has been steadily increasing its market share by 25.5% from week ending October 1, 2005. Traditional retailers in Australia still have some way to go however in occupying the Internet shopping landscape, demonstrated by the fact that the top 3 department stores online are pure players. Recent online US trends show that bricks and mortar stores are fighting back, where Hitwise observed that Walmart.com had surpassed Amazon.com in market share of visits for the first time on Thanksgiving.