Holiday-Related Content Drove December Web Activity According to comScore Media Metrix's Top 50 Online Property Ranking
Monday, 23 January 2006
comScore Media Metrix this week released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories. As anticipated, holiday-related sites garnered strong traffic in December, with the strongest gains realized by shipping sites, jewelry/ luxury goods providers and retail – music outlets. December also saw a rise in visitation to multi-media content.
“Consumers once again turned to the Internet in December to aid them in all aspects of their holiday celebrations,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix. “From purchasing and shipping gifts, to sending holiday greetings and finding recipes for holiday meals, Americans utilized the Web to aid in their holiday planning and preparations.”
AROUND THE WEB
Shipping – Traffic to shipping sites grew 31 percent over a year ago showing the largest growth of any category in December.
UPS Sites led the category with 18.6 million visitors (up 42 percent), followed by USPS.com with 15.2 million visitors (up 45 percent), and FedEx.com with 11.4 million visitors (up 35 percent).
Stamps.com, a site that allows consumers to print their own stamps from a home printer, also generated a 35 percent increase in December, thanks in part to a feature that allows customers to personalize stamps by uploading their favorite photos.
Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories – After a strong November, the Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories category demonstrated continued momentum, showing a 22 percent gain in unique visitors during December.
RedEnvelope.com also achieved significant growth in December, drawing 2.4 million unique visitors, up 62 percent versus the prior month.
Consumers’ increased comfort in purchasing high-ticket items online this year also drove significant growth for online high-end retailers including Tiffany & Co. (2 million visitors, up 47 percent), Kay Jewelers (1 million visitors, up 63 percent), and BurberryUSAOnline.com (313,000 visitors, up 128 percent).
Retail Music – Online music retail concluded a strong 2005 with a 22 percent increase in December, compared to the previous month.
Barnes & Noble led the category with 9.5 million visitors, up 33 percent from November. Ranking a close second in the category, iTunes drew 9.3 million visitors (also up 33 percent), as iTunes gift certificates proved to be a popular gift this holiday season. Some retailers even found success piggybacking on the iPod/iTunes phenomenon. Soundsgood.com, an audiobook retailer, almost certainly benefited from the combined popularity of portable digital media players and the tradition of holiday book-gifting, as it drew 1 million visitors in December (up 144 percent).
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Spreading goodwill over the Internet during the holidays had a decidedly viral effect, as evidenced by the tremendous December growth in several sites devoted to multimedia content. Sites normally garnering very modest traffic saw visitation explode virtually overnight as friends and family members alike forwarded greetings, spoofs and humorous short videos.
Powerpres.com – Animated holiday greetings on Powerpres.com, featuring colorful characters like a car-driving elephant and a drum-playing penguin, drove 6.4 million visitors to the site. The viral nature of these greetings fueled an astounding increase over the 31,000 unique visitors that frequented the site in November.
ToonedIn.com – Multimedia site ToonedIn.com attracted 6.6 million visitors in December, driven by humorous “shorts” and trailers including seasonal offerings.
JacquieLawson.com – Jacquie Lawson’s animated e-cards were a holiday hit once again as her site drew 6.4 million visitors in December (up 202 percent). A seasonal favorite for years, Jacquie debuted several new e-cards this December, including ones entitled “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “The Christmas Fishbowl,” and “White Winter.”
MLB.com – Rumors of trades involving big-name players during Major League Baseball’s annual “Winter Meetings,” where front office executive meet to discuss trades and other personnel decisions, drew 6.8 million visitors to MLB.com, marking a 51 percent increase over the previous month.