Shoppers Flock to Net for Last Minute Buys

Internet shopping measurements on both sides of the Atlantic indicate a happy Christmas season for online retailers. comScore reports a 24% rise in online shopping since last year, while Hitwise UK measured a 14% increase. Both identify a growing trend for last-minute buying.

comScore's latest figures, released yesterday, put US non-travel online spending between November 1 and December 18 at $16.34bn - a 24% increase over the same period last year, helped by a spending surge last week.

According to Gian Fulgoni, Chair of comScore: 'Retailers' continued use of last-minute promotions and discounted in-time shipping have allowed consumers to comfortably extend their online purchasing later into the season.'

According to Hitwise, UK retail web sites enjoyed unprecedented activity in December, with visits increasing 14% since last year. More shoppers dared to leave gift buying till late, with the week ending 10th December proving the peak week (last year, visits peaked in the week ending 4th December).

Online-only Internet retailers continued to attract the largest share of visits among retail web sites in the lead-up to Christmas, with Argos the only high-street brand in the top five. eBay UK, Amazon UK, Argos, Play.com, and Kelkoo UK were the most visited sites in this week ending 10th December - the same line-up as in 2004.

Search engines accounted for 30% of visits to retail web sites in the week ending 10th December 2005, with two thirds of these stemming from Google UK. The leading product-related search terms driving traffic to retail sites were broadband, mobile phones ipod and digital cameras.

Heather Hopkins, Director of Research for Hitwise UK, says: 'UK consumers are taking advantage of later delivery dates to do more last minute shopping online, with visits to grocery, gift and lingerie sites continuing to increase last week. While iPods, digital cameras, and Sony's PSP continued to be the most popular gift items, hair straighteners brand ghd took the number six spot among the most searched-for products.'

The companies are online at www.hitwise.com and www.comscore.com
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All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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