21 November 2007

Upcoming holidays 'drive US web activity'

Retail sites in the US experienced growth during October as consumers began to prepare for the upcoming Christmas holiday season, new research indicates.

According to figures produced by comScore, e-cards, flowers, gifts and greetings sites all saw a surge in demand over the month.

E-card sites saw an increase in demand over the month of 23 per cent - experiencing a total of 33.8 million visitors - and making it the top-gaining category for October.

Most popular within this category were the American Greetings properties, followed by Evite.com and Hallmark.com.

Meanwhile, the flowers/gifts/greetings category experienced a jump in popularity of 22 per cent during the month, reaching a total of 35.6 million visitors.

Within this category, PartyCity.com saw the most significant rise in visitor numbers, increasing by 151 per cent and experiencing 3.5 million hits.

Commenting on the figures, Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, stated: "Holidays were the primary driver of Americans' web activity during the month.

"With retailers moving their holiday season promotions earlier and earlier, October now represents the unofficial beginning of the holiday retail season."

The increase in traffic to a number of online retail categories indicates that US consumers were already initiating their hunt for "holiday bargains", he added.

Figures released earlier this month by comScore revealed that e-commerce spending in the US during October was 19 per cent higher than it was a year ago, totalling almost $10 billion.

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