New statistics from internet analysts Hitwise show UK shoppers leaving more of their festive shopping to the last minute this year, with internet usage figures revealing visits to sites in the Shopping & Classifieds category reaching a new peak of 14.85% of all internet visits last week.
While Hitwise reports a week-on-week increase of less than 1%, at this time last year visits had already begun to decline. The analyst claims that retail sub-categories responsible for driving growth are Flowers and Gifts, with a 9% week-on-week increase. Festive favourite category, Intimate Apparel & Accessories, also saw an increase of 8%, while Music saw an upturn of 6%.
“The growth in visits to Intimate Apparel & Accessories websites seems to be a result of last minute shopping for lingerie,” explained Heather Hopkins, director of research at Hitwise UK. “Lingerie is a highly seasonal product with the share of searches for ‘lingerie’ surging in the lead-up to Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Searches for ‘lingerie’ have more than doubled since early October.”
Visits to popular online lingerie store Figleaves.com highlight the popularity of underwear as a a last minute gift, with the site leading the Intimate Apparel & Accessories sector. The site saw visits peak in the week ending 25th December last year. This year several online retailers are promising on-time delivery for gifts ordered on or before 22nd December.
Unsurprisingly, visitors to sites in the Intimate Apparel & Accessories category were 8% more likely to be male, according to Hitwise, which also reported a skew towards younger shoppers, with site users 13% more likely to be under the age of 34 in the past four weeks.
“This demographic and lifestyle profile indicates that visitors to Intimate Apparel & Accessories sites are purchasing lingerie for young wives and girlfriends,” said Hopkins. “Visitors are also likely to be teenagers buying gifts for friends and girlfriends.”
Hitwise also reports brand recognition as being an important factor in driving online sales, as high street brand Ann Summers has enjoyed a 12% increase in visits to its site during the last week was a result of searches for the brand.
The share of searches for ‘ann summers’ increased 18% last week, whilst the share of searches for ‘anne summers’ increased by 26%, according to Hitwise.
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