| Searches for post-Christmas sales more than trebled in 2007 |
The number of UK searches for post-Christmas sales online more than trebled during the 2007 holiday period, with 249% more UK Internet searches for the term 'sales' for the week ending 29 December 2007 than for the comparable week in 2006. There was also a 200% increase in searches for the term 'sale' over the same period.
Online holiday shopping started earlier than ever this year, but a sluggish last couple of weeks before Christmas also forced many retailers to discount goods and start their sales earlier. For some online retailers, the January sales started on Christmas Day. In fact, Boxing Day was the busiest online shopping day of 2007, and there were almost more searches for 'boxing day sales' this year than there were for 'january sales' last year. As a result of this sale fever, weekly UK Internet traffic to Shopping and Classifieds websites increased by 13% between 22 and 29 December this year.
Play.com received the most traffic from UK consumers searching for sale bargains. The online entertainment retailer received over a quarter of all UK Internet traffic from searches for 'sales' and 'sale' for the four weeks ending 29 December 2007. As a result, Play.com saw its market share of all UK Internet visits increase by 15% between 22 and 29 December, when it became the 4th most visited Shopping and Classifieds website in the UK.
The second and third most popular websites receiving traffic from UK Internet searches for 'sale' were Tesco Direct and Littlewoods. Meanwhile, 'next sale' was the most popular search term containing the word 'sale' for the four weeks ending 29 December, and was the second fastest moving search term during the same period.
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| The Impact of Social Networking |
Social networks have grown rapidly in the UK over the last few years and their share of total UK Internet visits more than trebled between November 2005 and October 2007. As social networks expand their subscriber base, the network effect kicks in and the average time users spend on them increases as their number of friends and contacts increase. For example, Bebo trebled its market share of UK Internet visits between February 2005 and 2006, and at the same time its average session time increased from 6 minutes, 22 seconds to 21 minutes, 32 seconds. Consequently, social networks now receive one in every five page impressions in the UK - more than any other industry, including Search Engines and Shopping & Classifieds.
If any further evidence of social networking's popularity is required, Christmas Day 2007 was the busiest day ever for social networks in the UK: Facebook was the third most visited website in the UK over the Christmas period, pushing eBay into fourth place for the first time since January 2005.
To coincide with this sector's increasing influence, Hitwise, in conjunction with Experian Integrated Marketing, has released "The Impact of Social Networking in the UK".
This White Paper looks in detail at the key social networking learnings from 2007, the trends that are most likely to play out in 2008, and the critical areas that brands need to consider when developing their social media marketing strategies.
To request a copy, click here.
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| www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer |
Position for week ending 5 January 2008: 80
Position for week ending 8 December 2007: 1,114
Positions jumped: 1,034
UK visits to the BBC's iPlayer website (www.bbc.co.uk/iPlayer), which allows users to view programmes for up to seven days after they have been broadcast, increased 14-fold between the weeks ending 8 December 2007 and 5 January 2008. The online catch-up TV service ranked as the 80th most visited website in the UK for the week ending 5 January 2008, having peaked at number 62 on New Year's Day.
The BBC has been promoting iPlayer online, and over half of traffic to the website for the week ending 5 January came from other BBC websites. The official websites of Eastenders (www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders) and Doctor Who (www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho) were the programme-specific BBC websites sending most traffic to iPlayer.
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| Choosing Affiliate Partners by Identifying Sources of Traffic to Your Competitor’s Website |
By using Hitwise to chart upstream traffic to your competitors' websites, you can view the most popular websites that are sending visits to your competitors but not to you. As an example, assume one of your competitors is La Senza Lingerie, (www.lasenza.co.uk). By looking at the Industry Clickstream report for the La Senza website in December, the website received an increase in traffic from Men's Sites. By drilling down further, we can see this is coming from popular men's magazines such as FHM and Maxim Magazine. A lingerie retailer should view this as a good avenue to explore - especially in the run-up to Valentine's Day.
For Hitwise clients who would like to discuss this new application further, please contact Hitwise Customer Support, or visit the Hitwise University and review the Hitwise Best Practice Review for Identifying Affiliate Partners.
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| 1. |
FHM |
www.fhm.com |
| 2. |
Page3.com |
www.page3.com |
| 3. |
Maxim Magazine |
www.maximmag.co.uk |
| 4. |
Nuts Magazine |
www.nutsmag.co.uk |
| 5. |
Mansized.co.uk |
www.mansized.co.uk |
| 6. |
BoysStuff.co.uk |
www.boysstuff.co.uk |
| 7. |
Uploaded |
www.uploaded.com |
| 8. |
Zoo Weekly |
www.zooweekly.co.uk |
| 9. |
Popoholic |
www.popoholic.com |
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| Most visited Travel - Destinations & Accommodation websites for Internet users aged 55+ |
Based on those websites that have the greatest proportion of traffic from the 55+ age group.
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| 1. |
Logis de France |
www.logis-de-france.fr |
71.89% |
| 2. |
Cruises Choosing UK |
www.choosingcruising.co.uk |
68.36% |
| 3. |
Bolsover Cruise Club |
www.bolsovercruiseclub.co.uk |
68.21% |
| 4. |
Holland America |
www.hollandamerica.com |
66.29% |
| 5. |
LakeLand Cam |
www.lakelandcam.co.uk |
65.73% |
| 6. |
UK Villages online |
www.rural.co.uk |
65.02% |
| 7. |
FishTweed |
www.fishtweed.co.uk |
64.62% |
| 8. |
Cunard Line - North America |
www.cunard.com |
64.62% |
| 9. |
Madeira Island |
www.madeira-web.com |
64.01% |
| 10. |
Princess Cruises (UK) |
www.princesscruises.co.uk |
62.66% |
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| Cambridge Diet top diet for Britons |
According to Hitwise UK, the top five most searched-for
diets in the UK are currently the Cambridge Diet,
the Atkins Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the GI Diet and the South Beach Diet. Weight
Watchers, Tesco Diets and Weight Loss Resources were the most visited dieting
websites for the week ending 5 January 2008, and visits to the Boots Change One Thing website increased
by 60% week-on-week.
Download the Hitwise Widget to bring the latest
online trends to your desktop!
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