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• UK consumers will spend 350 million hours shopping online this Christmas

UK consumers will spend 350m hours shopping online this Christmas

Monday 5th December will be the busiest pre-Christmas online shopping day with 85m visits
Hull will be the online shopping capital in December

London, 02 December 2011 – Experian Hitwise has today made twelve key retail, social media and video predictions for this year’s festive season. Based on the latest data trends in online shopping, social networking, email and entertainment, here are Experian Hitwise’s “12 Insights of Christmas”

1. This December, 350 million hours will be spent shopping online by the UK Internet population. This translates to an average of 8 hours and 45 minutes spent per person on shopping websites over the course of the month.
2. Cyber Monday (5 December) will be the UK’s biggest pre-Christmas shopping day online with 85 million visits to retail websites from UK Internet users, an 18 per cent increase on last year.
3. 2.1 billion visits will go to online retail sites in December, with record peaks in traffic both pre and post-Christmas.
4. Lego will be the most searched for toy this Christmas, in particular Lego Star Wars games and sets.
5. Hull will be the online shopping capital of Britain of December 2011, with proportionally more people doing their Christmas shopping online than any other city in the UK.
6. Monday 19 December will be the biggest day of December for online Grocery visits as people do some last minute food shopping but also check store opening times across the Christmas period.
7. Facebook will see a new peak in UK Internet visits as friends share messages of good will with one another. 25 million hours will be spent on Facebook on Christmas Day alone.
8. iPhones will be a third more popular online than iPads this Christmas. If search intent was reflected in sales, for every three iPads Apple sold this Christmas they would sell four iPhones.
9. Searches for the post-Christmas sales will start earlier than ever this year, with eager shoppers starting to do their research online as early as Christmas Eve.
10. Friday 23 December will be the biggest day of December for retailers receiving traffic from email as the multi-channel retailers prepare their customers for the post-Christmas sales.
11. The fashion sector will be the most reliant on Facebook traffic this Christmas, with TopShop, River Island and ASOS among the biggest recipients of Facebook traffic.
12. 12 million hours will be spent watching video clips on BBC iPlayer this Christmas with the biggest driver of traffic being the Dr Who Christmas special.

“Christmas 2011 looks set to be another record-breaker for many of the online sectors and particularly for retail,” commented James Murray, Marketing Research Analyst at Experian Hitwise. “Cyber Monday is going to be crucial in the online retail sector and we are predicting 85 million visits on the 5th December, 15 percent up on last year’s figures.  Boxing Day could be another big day for retailers as more people go online to check out which stores have the best deals on offer.  This year we will are expecting to see a massive multi-channel marketing push as brands look to win online to drive web purchases and in-store footfall.”

ENDS

Contact:
Alexandra Banks
Digital PR Manager, Experian Marketing Services
+44 (0) 7966102823
alexandra.banks@uk.experian.com
press.uk@hitwise.com

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

For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Experian Hitwise research blog at www.ilovedata.com and the Experian Hitwise Data Centre at www.hitwise.com/datacentre

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 80 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 31 March 2011 was US$4.2 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 41 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit 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.