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Black Friday traffic up by 45 percent

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Based on a Hitwise study, the traffic to Websites advertising Black Friday deals has increased by 45% compared to the same week last year.

Also, it is not surprising that the online traffic registered a 145% growth for the week ending Nov. 17, 2007 compared to Nov. 10, 2007 traffic.

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“Retailers should monitor the Black Friday websites to see which promotions are driving discussion and excitement among shoppers to make sure that they have those products prominently placed on their websites and in stores,” said said Heather Dougherty, director of research at Hitwise.

For the past 4 weeks, about 61% of online visitors to Black Friday sites were females and the age bracket 24-34 was the highest represented group (37%).

Because holiday shopping is commonly intended for young kids, the terms “ipod”, “nintendo wii” and “wii” were the most popular among product searches.

Although CircuitCity.com garnered the biggest traffic increase last week, Amazon.com remains the most-visited site with 11%, followed by Wal-Mart with 7%.

Originally posted on November 21, 2007 @ 1:22 pm

Majority of online shoppers will not buy toys made in China

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new media newsTraumatized by the recent toy calls, a new survey by online comparison shopping site PriceGrabber among 2,000 online shoppers shows that 69 percent will not purchase any toys manufactured in China

Sixteen percent will purchase products from China as long as the toys are not painted and do not contain magnets. About 73 percent of survey respondents stated that it is important that the products they purchase are made in the United States.

Moreover, 71 percent say it is important to them to purchase ecofriendly products this holiday season. It basically means better business this holiday season for the struggling U.S. manufacturers.

Originally posted on November 15, 2007 @ 3:42 am

Consumers to spend less this holiday

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Although the latest report on U.S. retail e-commerce is positive, a new study conducted by Q Interactive reveals that more than 40 percent of consumers plan to spend less on holiday gifts than they did last year.

Among the 3,500 surveyed consumers, 45 percent intend to spend the same amount and only around 15 percent plan to increase their spending from last holiday season.

Of those who will spend less on holiday gifts, the 52 percent indicated the primary reason is they are “earning less money” and “have more expenses” this year. Other reasons for not spending as much this year include: “high gas prices” (11percent); “worried about the economy” (11 percent); and a feeling that “the holiday has become too commercial” (13 percent).

Even if nearly 80 percent of consumers report they will buy most their gifts at brick-and-mortar retailers, the Internet will still play a key role, however, as nearly 59 percent of consumers will research at least some of their gifts online and 19 percent will research all of their gifts online before purchasing them at an offline store.

Originally posted on November 14, 2007 @ 5:30 am

Are you shopping this Black Friday?

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internet newsShopLocal, the leader in multi-channel shopping services, polled consumers about whether they planned to brave the crowds on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

A resounding 52 percent said they plan to hit the stores the day after Thanksgiving, searching for holiday deals only offered by retailers one day a year. Despite the battle of fighting long lines and crowded parking lots, 67 percent expect to complete up to 25 percent of their shopping by the end of the first day of the holiday season.

Moreover, 24 percent expect to wait or camp out in line in front of their favorite stores to be one of the first customers as more major retailers open their doors as soon as 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving night or early dawn on Black Friday.

Aimed at helping holiday shoppers navigate their way to a successful shopping experience, ShopLocal.com has launched a microsite specifically for this event.

Originally posted on October 24, 2007 @ 2:35 am

NinjaTickets.com combines online event ticketing and comparison shopping

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ninjatickets1.gifNinjaTickets is a ticket search engine and comparison shopping tool that helps you find the best prices for sports, concert, and theater tickets.

It also offers industry exclusive Live Results so that every ticket at the time of search will be available to purchase. Cliff Mark, CEO of NinjaTickets developer Quiktix, believes this is an important feature “because it’s not unusual for most ticket search engines to be comparing or selling tickets which have already been sold particularly for the big events.”

Ninja Tickets is a work in progress; new functionality is added to NinjaTickets.com daily whether it’s an improvement of the ticket comparison search engine, an enhancement to comparing ticket prices, or adding a new ticket source.

Originally posted on October 24, 2007 @ 3:01 am