Holiday Shopping Drives Retail Site Gains

December 29, 2011

This article is included in these additional categories:

Brand Metrics | Digital | Paid Search | Retail & E-Commerce

comscore-top10-gaining-web-categories-bypercent-change-oct-v-nov-dec11.gifAbout 28.9 million US consumers visited toy sites in October 2011, representing 34% month-over-month growth from roughly 21.6 million US consumers in October, making the retail category subset the fastest growing by percentage change, according to [download page] comScore Media Metrix data. Toysrus Sites ranked first in the toys category with 15.6 million visitors, a 71% leap from October, earning it a spot on the top-gaining properties list. The LEGO Group came in second within the toys category with 4.4 million visitors, up 12%, followed by Disney Shopping, which drew 2.2 million (up 37%), AmericanGirl.com, with 2.1 million (up 89%), and Fisher Price, with 1.9 million (up 32%).

According to comScore data, total US internet audience remained relatively flat at about 221 million.

Gadget Sites Also Popular

Not surprisingly, given the holiday season, the Consumer Electronics category also fared well in November, jumping 28% to 59.1 million visitors, as flat panel TVs, e-readers and tablets continued to be popular items. BestBuy.com ranked first in the category with 35.3 million visitors (up 78%), followed by eBay Electronics US with 7.7 million (up 19%), RadioShack Corporation with 5 million (up 69%), and Buy.com with 4.2 million (up 26%). Showing exceptional growth was hhgregg.com, which surged 107% to 2 million visitors.

Consumers Indulge

24 million Americans browsed Jewelry, Luxury Goods and Accessories sites in November, representing 23% month-over-month growth, as many consumers eyed more extravagant gifts. 6pm.com earned the top position with 2.4 million visitors, up 40%, followed by Zale Corporation with 2 million (up 58%), BradfordExchange.com with 2 million (up 51%), and Coach.com with 1.9 million (up 22%). Kay Jewelers drew double its visitors from the previous month, taking the fifth spot with 1.5 million.

Groupon Tops Strong Coupon Category

Coupon sites attracted 49 million visitors, rising 12% from October, led by Groupon, which grew 2% to 11.8 million. Coupons, Inc. followed with 8.3 million visitors, with RetailMeNot.com not far behind at 7.4 million, up 24%. LivingSocial took fourth spot with 4.2 million visitors, up 1%, while BlackFriday.info showed impressive gains, leaping 756% to more than 4 million visitors.

Gym Site Visits Set to Jump

Meanwhile, according to December analysis from Compete, if trends from the past 2 years hold, Americans’ New Year’s weight loss resolutions will likely bring a spike in traffic to gym sites. In January 2011, goldsgym.com experienced a 51% leap in traffic compared to November 2010, while planetfitness.com saw a 47% rise. Other sites experiencing a jump in visitors included lifetimefitness.com (33%), 24hourfitness.com (33%), and ballyfitness.com (34%). Those same sites also saw unique visitors rise between 3 – 55% in January 2010 when compared to November 2009.

Microsoft Gains Lost Ground

comScore figures show that Google sites ranked as the #1 property once again in November with 186.7 million visitors, virtually unchanged from October. After losing about 2% of its visitors month-on-month in October, Microsoft battled back to overtake Yahoo for the second spot with 175.5 million visitors, up about 1.3% from 173.2 million. Yahoo also edged up to about 174.5 million visitors, although it dropped a spot in the process. Facebook remained in the fourth spot with 166 million visitors, unchanged from October, while Amazon surpassed AOL for the fifth position, rising over 5% to 112.9 million visitors.

Federated Media Publishing, which took the #24 spot in October, grew 61% to take the #16 spot with 71.7 million visitors.

Top Ad Focus Rankings Unchanged Again

comscore-nov-ad-focus-rankings.jpgGoogle Ad Network once again led the November Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 92.8% of Americans online, unchanged from its leading reach in October, followed again by Yahoo Network Plus, which inched down from 86.6% to 86.3% reach, and AOL Advertising, which also decreased marginally from 85% to 84.9% reach. AT&T AdWorks (83%) held down the #4 spot, while ValueClick Networks was the only top 5 entity to grow its reach, edging up from 81.4% to 81.8%.

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