Searches For Post-Christmas Sales More Than Trebled In 2007

The number of UK consumers searching for post-Christmas sales online more than trebled during the 2007 holiday period, according to new research from online intelligence service Hitwise.

Hitwise said that there were 249% more UK internet searches for the term ‘sales’ for the week ending 29 December 2007 than for the comparable week in 2006.

There was also a 200% increase in searches for the term ‘sale’ over the same period.

“The post-Christmas online sales are becoming more and more important to retailers every year,” said Robin Goad, Hitwise UK director of research.

“Online holiday shopping started earlier then ever this year, but a sluggish last couple of weeks before Christmas also forced many retailers to discount goods and start their sales earlier.”

He added: “For some online retailers, the January sales started on Christmas Day. In fact, Boxing Day was the busiest online shopping day of 2007, and there were almost more searches for ‘boxing day sales’ this year than there were for ‘January sales’ last year.

“As a result of this sales fever, weekly UK internet traffic to shopping and classifieds websites increased by 13% between 22 and 29 December this year.”

Play.com received the most traffic from UK consumers searching for sale bargains. The online entertainment retailer received over a quarter of all UK internet traffic from searches for ‘sales’ and ‘sale’ for the four weeks ending 29 December 2007.

As a result, Play.com saw its market share of all UK internet visits increase by 15% between 22 and 29 December, when it became the 4th most visited shopping and classifieds website in the UK.

Hitwise: www.hitwise.co.uk