| How should retailers re-prioritise their marketing activities in the face of curtailed consumer spending? |
In 2009, as unemployment rises the number one concern facing retailers will be shrinking consumer spend. The online channel will be more important than ever in winning business and competing against both Bricks and Mortar and Online Retailers. The 2008 Christmas retail season provides lessons to retailers looking to thrive in what will be a challenging year. By understanding the changes in consumer behaviour online, retailers can learn how to plan their campaigns more effectively.
This latest Hitwise research report compares the performance of various retail channels, including Bricks and Mortar brands, Online Retailers, and Rewards and Directory websites. Analysis is provided on the top performing retail sectors and brands, retailers’ activity in paid search and key demographic differences by retail channel. This report focuses on Australian online trends, with comparisons drawn against the New Zealand and Singapore markets.
Key retail findings by Hitwise in Asia Pacific during Christmas last year included:
- Bricks and Mortar Retailers are winning the online battle. Visits to Bricks and Mortar Retailers by Australian Internet users attracted year-on-year growth of 19.2% in December 2008; in contrast to a decline in visits of 7.7% to Online Retailers.
- Appliances and Electronics is the fastest growing retail category. Appliances and Electronics websites enjoyed the strongest growth in the retail sector over Christmas, with Australian visits increasing by 27.2% amongst all websites comparing December 2007 and December 2008.
- Visits to Shopping and Classifieds websites in New Zealand were marginally up in December 2008, with a 1.4% year-on-year increase. Post-Christmas sales were similarly important in New Zealand, with visits on Boxing Day 2008 up 7.7% compared to the same day the previous year.
- The post-Christmas period had less importance in the Singapore market with visits peaking in 2008 during the last week of November. Visits in December 2008 showed some improvement on the previous year, with an increase of 2.7%.
- Apparel and Accessories attracted strong visits in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Ezibuy was the leading website in December 2008 in both the Australian and New Zealand markets. The Louis Vuitton website was a significant online contender in Singapore, appearing for the first time amongst the top retail websites in October 2008 and rising to 4th position in December 2008.
- Top retail brands are increasing their share of the search pie. The top 100 retail brands in December 2008 in Australia grew in search volume by 27.9%, while in New Zealand and Singapore the top brands grew by 21.1% and 10.6% respectively.
- Luxury apparel searches were prominent in Singapore, particularly branded handbags, including, ‘coach handbags’, ‘gucci handbags’ and ‘prada handbags’. ‘Barbie’ was also notable amongst leading search terms to Shopping and Classifieds, maintaining its classic toy status.
For more information download the new Hitwise Christmas Retail Review Report – Insights for 2009 Retail Planning, and visit the Hitwise Retail Data Center for the latest industry statistics and data.
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| William Shakespeare - www.william-shakespeare.info |
Still popular in the 21st century, the William Shakespeare (www.william-shakespeare.info) website, moved 84 places within a week to rank 112th in the Entertainment - Books and Writing industry for the week ending 21/03/2009.
The William Shakespeare website experienced a 346.47% increase in market share between the weeks ending 21/02/2009 and 21/03/2009. The website provides information about William Shakespeare, his life and writings, as well as the mystery of his identity.
Search terms driving traffic to the website for the 24 weeks ending 21/03/2009 included: 'romeo and juliet script', 'how shakespeare's plays exist today' and 'twelfth night shakespeare online text'.
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| Entertainment - Books and Writing |
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The following report lists the most popular terms typed into a search engine over the 24 weeks ending 21/03/2009 that resulted in traffic to websites classified by Hitwise within the 'Entertainment - Books and Writing' industry. For example, the most popular search term was 'fanfiction' representing 1.02% of all search terms that delivered users to websites classified by Hitwise in the 'Entertainment - Books and Writing' industry.
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| 1. |
fanfiction |
1.02% |
| 2. |
twilight |
0.61% |
| 3. |
sad love quotes |
0.53% |
| 4. |
love poems |
0.48% |
| 5. |
sodu |
0.47% |
| 6. |
harry potter |
0.35% |
| 7. |
freelance copywriting jobs |
0.30% |
| 8. |
stephanie meyer |
0.30% |
| 9. |
motivational quotes |
0.28% |
| 10. |
bookba |
0.28% |
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| Travel - Destinations and Accomodation |
| This category contains websites of accommodation providers, such as hotels and hotel chains, along with locality guides and tourist locations. Also included are sites that facilitate the online booking of accommodation, including third-party websites that provide bookings for a range of providers. The data below is based on All sites » Weekly rankings for the week ending 21/03/2009 » Ranks by 'Visits'. |
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| 25.1% |
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of traffic to this category was directed at domestic sites.
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| 1. |
Computers and Internet |
56.65% |
| 2. |
Computers and Internet - Search Engines |
44.24% |
| 3. |
Travel |
21.06% |
| 4. |
Travel - Destinations and Accommodation |
13.98% |
| 5. |
Business and Finance |
4.97% |
| 6. |
Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums |
4.81% |
| 7. |
Entertainment |
3.92% |
| 8. |
News and Media |
3.29% |
| 9. |
Computers and Internet - Email Services |
3.20% |
| 10. |
Travel - Agencies |
3.07% |
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| 1. |
Travel |
40.40% |
| 2. |
Travel - Destinations and Accommodation |
26.97% |
| 3. |
Computers and Internet |
18.00% |
| 4. |
Business and Finance |
8.86% |
| 5. |
Entertainment |
6.79% |
| 6. |
Computers and Internet - Search Engines |
5.52% |
| 7. |
Travel - Agencies |
5.15% |
| 8. |
Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums |
4.96% |
| 9. |
News and Media |
4.01% |
| 10. |
Lifestyle |
3.45% |
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| Youth Health Online |
At the recent Youth Health Symposium 2009 (youthspeak.yah.sg), three hundred young Singaporeans discussed how health issues can be channeled to youths via web-based interactive activity and social networking websites.
Accordingly Hitwise Singapore investigated the current status of online traffic to the Health and Medical - Information industry, received from Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums websites - the result being 7.62% for the week ending 21/03/2009.
The top three upstream Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums websites driving traffic to the Health and Medical - Information industry were Facebook (www.facebook.com), YouTube (www.youtube.com) and Yahoo! Answers (answers.yahoo.com).
Now you know.
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