Online Holiday Shopping Goes Mainstream With 30 Percent Traffic Increase
Shopping.com Reports Record Breaking Traffic and Most Wanted Gifts Based on Top Searches
biz.yahoo.com
BRISBANE, Calif., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Shopping.com, one of the most visited online retail sites with more than 20 million unique visitors a month and 135 million shoppers in November and December 2004 (comScore), today disclosed its latest holiday demand data and insights. By offering more than 35 million products in 325 categories from thousands of retailers, Shopping.com has a unique lens on how, on when and for what Americans are shopping online.
"American shoppers' increasing comfort online is reflected this year in greater traffic overall and the types of goods being researched and bought," said Lorrie Norrington, president and CEO of Shopping.com. "Double-digit growth in searches and purchases is no longer just the domain of consumer electronics and traditional early-adopter products; today some of the fastest and most significant growth is in household appliances, toys and clothing."
Volume and Velocity on Shopping.com:
-- Black Friday (11/25) and Cyber Monday (11/28) showed traffic increases
of approximately 30 percent and that record usage continues
-- Manic Mondays continue to dominate weekday traffic. Prior to
Thanksgiving, Mondays were the biggest online shopping day of the week;
that pattern has continued both on Cyber Monday and the two Monday's
following it
-- Starting with Black Friday this year, more shoppers have visited
Shopping.com each day than the busiest day of 2004
-- A purchase is made through Shopping.com every 3 seconds
-- A digital camera is purchased every 2.2 seconds through Shopping.com
this holiday season, up nearly 30 percent from last year's rate of one
every 2.8 seconds
-- Every minute, two Xbox games are sold through Shopping.com
-- A pair of shoes is sold every 1.3 seconds through Shopping.com
Product and Category Diversity
The top five categories in the U.S. this year on Shopping.com are: home and garden; electronics; clothing and accessories; computers; kids and family.
"For more mainstream consumers the breadth and depth of choice online has been a blessing and a curse with no clear way to sort through all the products," said Shannon Clouston, chief shopper for Shopping.com. "At Shopping.com, we create order out of chaos by providing the most intuitive structure on traditionally hard to organize items, such as clothing and shoes, via the world's largest product catalog."
The Mainstreaming of Online Shopping
Not everyone is searching for an MP3 player, video game console or a digital camera this season.
-- Home and Garden
According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association,
154 million pet owners are expected to spend $2.6 billion on pet gifts
this holiday season, up 20 percent from last year. At Shopping.com
there are more than 600 pet toys alone, easily sorted by material
(plastic, rubber, cotton, wood, metal); toy type (chew toy, balls, pet
plush toys, gymnasiums); pet type (cat, dog, bird, small pets) and, of
course, price.
-- Flowers and Gifts
Gift baskets are increasingly popular among shoppers; a 22 percent
increase this year vs. 2004. At Shopping.com buyers will find more
than 1900 choices in the flowers and gifts category, sorted by type
(sweets, gourmet, fruit, collectibles, tea/coffee), occasion
(Christmas, romance, baby and more), price, store and brand (from Mrs.
Fields to Ghirardelli). In the food and drink category, gift baskets
also can be sorted by dietary need (kosher, low-carb, no salt, fat
free, and more).
-- Clothing and Accessories
One of the hottest products on Shopping.com this season is Ugg shoes
and boots. The Ugg craze started as a celebrity trend and quickly
moved mainstream. There is Ugg footwear available in a variety of
styles and prices. Shopping.com puts its structuring technology to good
use with this product as shoppers, after seeing that there are 500 Ugg
products available, can easily narrow their search by gender, material
(sheepskin, suede, wool), type (boot, clog, slip-on) or price.
-- Kids and Family
Neopets are the latest in the virtual pet craze, and Shopping.com can
prove their pedigree as the season's online pet of choice. In the last
week, searches for Neopets have skyrocketed more than 420 percent. On
Shopping.com there are 1100 Neopets products in the toy category easily
sorted by toy category (stuffed animal, puzzles, pretend play), board
game type (trading card games, card games, game accessories), and
price, with hundreds of Neopets' products under $15.
About Shopping.com
Shopping.com, an eBay company (Nasdaq: EBAY - News), pioneered online comparison shopping and today is one of the fastest growing shopping destinations on the Internet. With millions of products, thousands of merchants and millions of reviews from the Epinions community, Shopping.com empowers consumers to make informed choices and, as a result, drives much higher conversion to sale and value for merchants. |
