Fastest Growing Internet Properties In December
comScore has released its December rankings of the largest and fastest-growing internet properties and site categories in the UK, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.
“The Christmas season had a significant impact on the prevailing traffic trends in December,” said Bob Ivins, EVP of European Markets for comScore.
“Eight of the top ten gaining properties were retail-related as consumers shopped for holiday gifts online, and online greetings also proved popular. That online coupon sites also grew so strongly suggests consumers may have been a bit tighter with their wallets this Christmas season.”
Online retail factored prominently into the top-gaining site category rankings for December, as the culmination of the Christmas shopping season approached. The consumer goods category was up 21% for the month to nearly 9.7 million visitors, while the mall category grew 10% to 14.6 million visitors.
The latest Nielsen Global Online Survey found that more than 85% of the world’s online population has used the internet to make a purchase – increasing the market for online shopping by 40% in the past two years.Greetings sites also grew in December, said comScore. The e-cards category experienced a 26% increase to 8.2 million visitors, while the flowers/gifts/greetings category grew 12% to 6.9 million visitors. Meanwhile, the shipping category grew 10% to 5.5 million visitors.
At the start of January, comScore released a study of the online shopping activity of UK, French and German consumers during Christmas 2007, showing that online shopping activity built steadily throughout the season, peaking during the first half of December.
| Top 10 Gaining Categories by U.K. Unique Visitors Age 15+, December 2007 vs. November 2007, Total U.K. Home and Work Locations* | |||
| Property | Total Unique Visitors | ||
| Nov-07 | Dec-07 | % Change | |
| Total U.K. Internet Audience | 32,711 | 32,981 | 1 |
| Coupons | 2,048 | 2,622 | 28 |
| e-cards | 6,530 | 8,238 | 26 |
| Consumer Goods | 8,041 | 9,715 | 21 |
| Gay/Lesbian | 492 | 574 | 17 |
| Flowers/Gifts/Greetings | 6,141 | 6,890 | 12 |
| Mall | 13,216 | 14,554 | 10 |
| Shipping | 5,055 | 5,541 | 10 |
| Retail – Music | 13,270 | 14,381 | 8 |
| Jewellery/Luxury Goods/Accessories | 3,683 | 3,913 | 6 |
| Computer Software | 7,191 | 7,625 | 6 |
| * Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. | |||
| Source: comScore World Metrix | |||
| Top 10 Gaining Properties by U.K. Unique Visitors Age 15+*, December 2007 vs. November 2007, Total U.K. Home and Work Locations** | |||
| Property | Total Unique Visitors | ||
| Nov-07 | Dec-07 | % Change | |
| Total U.K. Internet Audience | 32,711 | 32,981 | 1 |
| ValueClick Sites | 2,532 | 3,489 | 38 |
| NEXT Group | 3,947 | 4,735 | 20 |
| Dixons Stores Group | 6,751 | 8,078 | 20 |
| HMV | 4,820 | 5,732 | 19 |
| Home Retail Group | 10,463 | 12,211 | 17 |
| Game.co.uk | 3,544 | 4,108 | 16 |
| Sainsburys | 2,224 | 2,575 | 16 |
| MiniClip.com | 4,311 | 4,946 | 15 |
| Royal Mail Group | 3,936 | 4,421 | 12 |
| Play.com Sites | 6,834 | 7,666 | 12 |
| *Ranking based on the top 100 U.K. properties in December 2007. | |||
| ** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. | |||
| Source: comScore World Metrix | |||
comScore: www.comscore.com