Important Asia Pacific trends include increased traffic coming from social networks and a decreased reliance on dating and wedding websites.

Experian®, the global information services company, has identified changing trends in online marketing as Internet retailers sought to attract more consumers to their websites for Valentine's Day.

Some of the most interesting changes include a sharp growth in visits to websites in the Shopping and Classifieds - Flower and Gifts industry (31.9% increase, comparing weeks ending 6 and 13 February 2010), an increased reliance on social media as a channel for generating online traffic, and decreases in visits to the Shopping and Classifieds - Intimate Apparel and Accessories industry (23.7% decrease, comparing the weeks ending 6 and 13 February 2010).

Based on Experian Hitwise's traffic sources, the biggest trend in online marketing in the run up to Valentine's Day was a continued increase and emphasis on traffic and sales generated from social media services and websites. With 26.3 percent of the traffic generated from social networks, online shopping and classifieds retailers experiencing a growth of 47.0 percent from this channel compared to 2009 (comparing the weeks ending 14 February 2009 and 20 February 2010).

At the same time, Experian Hitwise found increases in the following categories:

• Computers and Internet - Search Engines - 41.4 percent
• Entertainment - Multimedia 22.0 percent

And marked decreases in the following categories:

• Lifestyle - Dating - 50.5 percent
• Lifestyle - Weddings - 34.5 percent

These results suggest that consumers are changing the way they shop online and that e-retailers need to adapt to these changing conditions if they want to remain competitive in attracting consumers purchasing Valentine's Day gifts.

For more online insights, visit Experian Hitwise Analyst Weblogs.

Experian, the global information services company, has further expanded its Marketing Services portfolio in Europe with the launch of Experian Hitwise in France. Experian's Internet measurement service will help domestic and international marketers operating in France to improve their online marketing, content development, affiliate strategies and search tactics.

Google.fr is the most visited website in France, accounting for 1 in every 10 Internet visits

During the week ending 30/01/10, Google France (www.google.fr) was the most visited website in France, picking up 10.38% of all French Internet visits - equivalent to 1 in every 10. Two other Google-owned properties also appeared in the list of the 10 most visited websites in France during the same week: YouTube (www.youtube.com) at number 4 and Google.com at number 7.

Facebook is the second most visited website in France, accounting for 6.83% of all French Internet visits during the week ending 30/01/10. The site accounted for just under half of all French visits to social networks over the same period, picking up over twice as many visits as second placed YouTube.

Windows Live Mail (mail.live.com, also known as Windows Live Hotmail) is the third most visited website in France and the most popular webmail service.

Social networking is a more popular activity in France than in the UK, but online shopping less so

Search Engines are the most visited category of website in France, accounting for 14.27% of all French Internet visits during the week ending 30/01/10. Social Networks and Forums rank second, picking up 12.85% of French Internet visits - more than the 10.61% the industry accounts for in the UK. Shopping and Classifieds websites, on the other hand, account for a higher percentage of Internet visits in the UK (8.74%) than in France (8.44%).

"France and the UK have very similar sized Internet populations, so it is interesting to compare the different ways in which the web is used in the two countries," commented Robin Goad, European Research Director at Experian Hitwise. "In France, more online time is spent on communication and entertainment than in the UK, with Entertainment websites and Webmail services also picking up a higher proportion of visits. On the other hand, people in the UK are more likely to use the Internet to make transactions and look for information. News and Media, Sports, Travel, and Education websites all account for a higher proportion of Internet visits in the UK than in France."

Visit Experian Hitwise France.

Prosper in the Year of the Tiger - Plan to maximise your ROI this Chinese New Year.

Boost your customer acquisition and develop strategies to optimise your online and email marketing activities for a prosperous Chinese New Year.

Retailers will learn the importance of:

• Reaching a wider audience using modern email and online marketing techniques.
• Interpreting online behaviour and identifying key trends to boost marketing.
• Identifying online retail opportunities and applying strategies for successful customer acquisition.
• Understanding key traffic drivers for acquisition and sales growth.

Download Now

Valentines Day 2010 - Maximising online marketing dollars on the wings of love.

There are several special occasions during the year (such as Valentine's Day) that present retailers with a window of unlimited potential to maximise revenues. On these occasions, it is almost a certainty that consumers will be on the look-out for new products, fresh ideas, or the best prices - online.

Learn how to effectively use your online platform, to understand how consumers are searching online (e.g. search patterns and key word searches) and leverage your existing customer data to maximise results.

Download Now

Experian Digital Solutions Webinar - Providing marketing results that connect people who want to sell and buy.

With key holidays periods (such as Easter), consumers are increasingly using the Internet to search for gift ideas and compare prices. To ensure that your products and services are reaching your customers, it's essential for all marketers to utilise the online channel cost-effectively.

This webinar will provide insights into current online trends, and reveal the brands and product websites that are out performing their competitors.

You will also learn how you can:

• Use Hitwise Competitive Intelligence tools to:
  - Identify share of voice - Which products and services are being searched for and when?
  - Drive traffic to your website through highly-targeted search and affiliate marketing campaigns.
  - Profile your audience - Who is visiting your website and what segments should you target?
  - Develop effective website content by uncovering popular topics and search terms.

Plus:

• Measure and track the effectiveness of your email campaigns using CheetahMail.
• Build and maintain your customer database with QAS.

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According to Forrester, "Australian's spent more than $23 billion in online shopping last year. A figure that is expected to grow 8 percent a year to $32 billion by 2012." Therefore it is of utmost importance if you have an online e-commerce presence, to engage in effective conversion optimisation strategies on your website.

Conversion Optimisation is the process of analysing how users engage with your website; to identify opportunities for you to convert those potential customers into sales or leads, which in turn can help increase your bottom line and visitor engagement.

Experian Hitwise recently presented a webinar, which provided an introduction to conversion optimisation. The highlights included:

• An overview of best practice conversion optimisation;
• Different types of tests you can run on your website;
• Where to look to improve your conversion rate;
• Key elements for conversion optimisation - tactics, tools, technology and people;
• How to apply conversion optimisation to your business; and
• Case study examples.

Download your copy of the 'Experian Hitwise - How to make conversion optimisation work for your business' webinar recording.

For more information please email search.csm@hitwise.com or call 853 2839 5285.

By using Hitwise Rankings reports, you can monitor a website's ranking by visits, pages, or average session time against your industry, for specific time periods.

For example, if you are looking to advertise on a media website, using Hitwise Rankings reports you will discover that of all the websites in the News and Media industry, Yahoo! Hong Kong News (hk.news.yahoo.com) and Apple Daily Online (appledaily.atnext.com) attract the highest market share of visitors at 15.46% and 10.05% respectively, for the week ending 20/03/2010.

Using this information, you can determine which media websites could be better to partner with in order to drive more traffic to your website. This data is useful to gauge online market share of traffic.

To learn more about Hitwise Rankings.

For more information about Experian Hitwise, please contact Hitwise Customer Support at support.ap@hitwise.com or call 852 2839 5285.

Hong Kong locals seem to have their fingers on the'pulse', so to speak - Planet Pulse (www.planet.pulse.net) leaped 160 places within a week, to rank 55 in the Shopping and Classifieds - Rewards and Directories category (week ending 20/03/2010).

Planet Pulse is one of the largest online community of survey respondents representing 20 countries, hundreds of communities and ethnic groups in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. The website, which offers respondents the opportunity to share their views by answering online surveys and be rewarded for it, increased its weekly market share in the Shopping and Classifieds - Rewards and Directories category by 11 times for that same week.

Facebook was the top website both referring upstream traffic to and receiving downstream traffic from the Planet Pulse website (week ending 20/03/2010). Although, it seems that users could not get enough of the surveys (or the rewards), with Hong Kong Online Research (www.hkonlinesurvey.com/) and Hong Kong Ciao Surveys (www.hk.ciao-surveys.com) both featuring within the top 10 downstream websites visited after Planet Pulse.