Hitwise industry research indicates that visits to Superannuation websites closely mirror traffic to the Stocks and Shares online industry. Internet users are clearly shopping around across a range of funds as they consider their long-term investment choices.

Online visits to the Superannuation category peaked during the week ending March 5, 2005, as a number of government lodgement dates were due, followed by a surge in traffic for the week ending June 25 prior to the launch of choice of funds legislation. Similarly, peaks in visits to the Stocks and Shares category were observed. Hitwise Clickstream data for June 2005 reveal that 13.8% of visits to Superannuation websites originated from Stocks and Shares websites, compared to the industry average of 4.5%. This indicates a strong online relationship between the Superannuation and Stock & Shares online industries.

"The implication for the Superannuation industry is an increasingly competitive landscape as consumers have even more choice now with how they invest their savings for retirement", said Sandra Hanchard, Hitwise analyst. "As consumers demand more information from funds for their own comparative research, the Internet remains a strategic arena in which to promote product returns and to provide fee transparency. Organisations furthermore have the opportunity to convert 'window shoppers' into customers through efficient and easy-to-use online application forms".

Hitwise demographic data show that Stocks and Shares websites are more successful in attracting the youth market with 23.1% of users in the 25-34 age-bracket, when compared to Superannuation websites with 19.3% for the 12-week period ending June 25, 2005. Superannuation websites attracted a far greater share of this audience the same time last year with 34.6%. This is a worrying trend considering the importance of investing wisely at an early stage to provide for a reasonable retirement income.

Searches on the term, 'superannuation' were however at their highest point this year for the week ending July 9, accounting for 0.004% of searches across all categories. The top 5 search terms to the Superannuation industry were brand-related, including 'amp', 'ing', 'colonial first state' and 'arf' over a 4-week period ending July 9, 2005.

The websites of authors as well as sites featuring book reviews and general literary information. The data below is based on Weekly rankings for the week ending 23/07/2005 » Ranks by 'Visits'.

Top 10 Entertainment - Books and Writing sites for Australian audiences		Local Competitiveness Index
FanFiction.Net Harry Potter J.K. Rowling The Leaky Cauldron Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator (HPANA) The Crime Library Bartleby.com Suite101.com Love Poem and Quotes Books and Collectibles		8.7% of traffic to this category was directed at domestic sites.

How a baseball team used Hitwise data to understand the difference between site traffic, industry trends and the factors connecting them.

A baseball team's website manager was enthusiastic about online traffic levels when their season started. Visits to their website increased and it seemed that their new advertising campaign was paying off. Using Hitwise 'Charting' to compare their performance against other sites in their industry told another story however.

Although the baseball team did receive an increase of traffic with the launch of the new season, so did all other websites in that industry. By viewing the Hitwise 'Rankings' and 'Charting' tools the marketing manager was able to instantly understand that sports-fantasy websites were dominating the category and taking market share away from traditional sports team sites.

Hitwise 'Search Term' data also revealed that "sports fantasy" was the fourth most popular searched on term in the online baseball category.

Only with Hitwise's timely and comprehensive data was the marketing manager able to:

- Gain insights into the online baseball industry and the behavior and preferences of visitors.
- Quickly and affordably monitor the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
- Uncover new opportunities for content programming.