Quick access to:

Michael Jackson and Balloon Boy Top Costume Searches

Visits to online costume retailers up 48 percent year over year;
BuyCostumes.com is top visited costume Web site


New York, N.Y., Oct. 29, 2009
- The search terms "michael jackson costume" and "balloon boy costume" were the most popular among all U.S. Internet searches that contained the phrase "costume" for the four weeks ending Oct. 24, 2009, according to Experian Hitwise.

The Web sites receiving the most traffic from the term "michael jackson costume" were BuyCostumes.com, Brandsonsale.com and Amazon.com. Other popular costume searches included "tinkerbell", "catwoman" and "poison ivy". Top adult costume searches included "snow white", "cat", "fairy", "mermaid" and "care bear".

Top U.S. costume searches for the four weeks ending Oct. 24, 2009

Costume

Adult costume

Sexy costume

michael jackson costume

adult snow white costume

sexy sailor costume

balloon boy halloween costume

adult cat costume

sexy catwoman costume

tinkerbell costume

fairy costume adult

sexy witch costume

catwoman costume

adult mermaid costume

sexy nurse costume

poison ivy costume

adult care bear costume

sexy queen of hearts costume

Note - The search term data is based on the volume of all U.S. searches for the four weeks ending Oct. 24, 2009, from the Experian Hitwise sample of 10 million users.

Source: Experian Hitwise


Top visited online costume retail Web sites

BuyCostumes.com was the most visited Web site among a custom category of 10 leading online costume retailers for the week ending Oct. 24, 2009. The Web site received 42.94 percent of all U.S. traffic to the custom category. Following BuyCostumes.com was the Costume Express Web site, which received 13.38 percent of visits. The Spirit Halloween Web site was next, receiving 10.50 percent. Additionally, Buycostumes.com has been the most visited Web site in the Shopping and Classifieds - Apparel and Accessories category for the past five weeks. Furthermore, traffic to the top 27 Web sites in this custom category increased 48 percent for the week ending Oct. 24, 2009, versus the same week last year.

Custom category of top visited online costume retail Web sites 
(week ending Oct. 24, 2009)

Rank

Name

Web site

Market share

1

BuyCostumes.com

www.buycostumes.com

42.94%

2

Costume Express

www.costumeexpress.com

13.38%

3

Spirit Halloween

www.spirithalloween.com

10.50%

4

Halloween Express

www.halloweenexpress.com

8.87%

5

Costume Super Center

www.costumesupercenter.com

5.79%

6

Costume Craze

www.costumecraze.com

3.30%

7

Costume Hub

www.costumehub.com

2.54%

8

Anytime Costumes.com

www.partylounge.com

2.20%

9

Costumes 4 Less

www.costumes4less.com

1.90%

10

Zoogster Costumes

www.zoogstercostumes.com

1.82%

Source: Rankings are based on U.S. market share of visits among a custom category of 27 of the leading costume Web sites for the week ending Oct. 24, 2009 (Sunday-Saturday) from the Experian Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users.

Source: Experian Hitwise


Other trends include:

About Experian Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Experian Hitwise gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1 million Web sites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial services, media, travel and retail.

Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), http://www.experianplc.com, operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com.

For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Hitwise Research Blog and Hitwise Data Center.

About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2009, was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil. 

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.