Online Auction Sites Main Retail Beneficiaries Of Social Networking
Online auction sites, in particular eBay, are the main retail beneficiaries of the social networking phenomenon, according to new research from Hitwise, receiving 31.4% of all downstream traffic that social networks send to shopping and classifieds sites.
The online intelligence service added that the more traditional retail categories – department stores and apparel and accessories sites – are next, respectively receiving one in eight and one in nine of all UK retail visits from social networks.
The close links between social networks and the entertainment industry help music and video & games retailers, which are the fourth and fifth biggest beneficiaries respectively. Combined, these five categories account for 72% of all online retail traffic sent from social networks.
Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise UK, said: “In terms of internet visits, Social Networking has grown by over 70% in the UK since last Christmas, and it is starting to have a serious impact on many different types of website. Social networks are now the fourth most popular source of traffic for shopping and classifieds sites after search, email services and other shopping and classified sites.
“And this traffic increasingly reflects British society as a whole. Social networks are no longer just for teenagers and students – between December 2006 and September 2007, the proportion of visitors aged 55+ to our net communities and chat category, which is dominated by social networks, has increased by 63%, while the proportion coming from the 18 – 24 age group has decreased by 19%.”
In September 2006, www.facebook.com was the 126th most visited URL in the UK, but its market share has increased 30 fold over the last 12 months, from 0.056% of all UK Internet visits to 1.66% in September 2007, said Hitwise.
“Since opening up to the general public in September 2006, Facebook’s growth has been driven by a combination of viral marketing and rapidly increasing brand awareness,” commented Goad. “A quarter of Facebook’s traffic comes from web-based email services, which is a combination of new invites and alerts to existing members. A further quarter comes from search engines, and an illustration of the site’s brand strength is the fact that ‘facebook’ is now the third most searched for term in the UK.”
A recent report from Datamonitor, forecast that global active memberships in social networking sites to reach 230 million at the end of 2007 (see Social Networking Site Memberships To Reach 230 Million).
Hitwise: www.hitwise.co.uk