Hitwise UK Retail Update
High street retailers winning the online shopping battle in the run up to Christmas
London, 13 November 2007 – Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today reveals that high street retailers received over half of all UK Internet visits to online retailers during October (based on two Hitwise custom categories consisting of the top 50 high street and non-high street online retailers in the UK, excluding online auctions and ticket retailers). 51.1% of visits were to an online retailer that also has an offline presence, such as Argos, Marks & Spencer and Next, while 48.9% were to a retailer without a high street presence, such as Amazon, Dell and ASOS.
“Traditionally high street retailers receive less online traffic than their pure play online competitors, except during the Christmas and January sales period,” commented Robin Goad, Research Director for Hitwise UK. “In 2006 high street retailers only overtook their online rivals during the peak month of December, but this year they overtook in September and have been widening the gap ever since. It looks like this year will be a bumper Christmas online for traditional bricks and mortar brands.”
Furthermore, analysis from Experian CheetahMail also reveals that UK consumers in October spent £77.33 online in response to permissions-based email offers from retailers with a high street presence.
Traditional retailers using e-mail marketing to capitalise in the run up to Christmas is a shrewd move, according to Steve Lomax, Experian CheetahMail’s European Managing Director: “As we get closer to Christmas, we’ll see e-mail marketing accelerate as traditional retailers use it as a major sales tool to advertise ‘last minute’ online-only promotions, but also to drive footfall for specific in-store offers. It’s a case of them making sure they get the best of both worlds.”
Apparel and Accessories the fastest growing retail category for Christmas
The Apparel and Accessories sector has seen the largest online growth of the 19 Hitwise retail sub-sectors, increasing its share of online Shopping and Classifieds visits by 27.6% year-on-year, and receiving one in 12 visits of all visits to the retail sector. The top three Apparel and Accessories retail websites in October were Next.co.uk, Asos.com and Topshop.co.uk.
Next.co.uk continues to lead the Apparel retail category, receiving twice the market share of visits of its nearest rival Asos.com in October. However both Asos.com & third placed Topshop.co.uk have seen a steady growth in visits over the last year, gaining 62% and 73% respectively since October 2006. Both sites index highly with females aged 18-24 and capture a higher proportion of traffic from the North West region and London than Next.
Ugg Boots are here to stay
Ugg Boots are now firmly entrenched as part of the winter wardrobe, with searches for the woolly boots at their highest level in two years. In a sector heavily dominated by the high street retail brands, ‘ugg boots’ was the sixteenth most popular of almost 200,000 search terms sending traffic to the Apparel and Accessories sector during the four weeks ending 3rd November.
Fig 1: UK Internet traffic to High Street Retailers and Non-High Street Retailers,
October 2006 – October 2007
Fig 2: Five fastest growing retail sub-sectors, market share of UK Internet visits, October 2007
Retail sub-sector |
October 2007 share of visits to Shopping and Classifieds |
October 2006 share of visits to Shopping and Classifieds |
Year on Year growth |
Apparel and Accessories |
8.4% |
6.6% |
27.6% |
Computers |
5.5% |
4.7% |
16.6% |
Video and Games |
4.8% |
4.3% |
12.1% |
Sport and Fitness |
3.2% |
2.9% |
8.9% |
Toys and Hobbies |
2.7% |
2.5% |
8.4% |
Fig 3: Top 10 Apparel and Accessories retailers ranked by market share of UK Internet visits, October 2007
Rank |
Name |
Domain |
Market Share |
1 |
Next |
www.next.co.uk |
7.81% |
2 |
ASOS |
www.asos.com |
3.79% |
3 |
Topshop |
www.topshop.co.uk |
2.97% |
4 |
River Island |
www.riverisland.com |
2.49% |
5 |
M and M Direct |
www.mandmdirect.com |
2.41% |
6 |
Dorothy Perkins |
www.dorothyperkins.co.uk |
1.61% |
7 |
Mothercare |
www.mothercare.com |
1.55% |
8 |
La Redoute |
www.laredoute.co.uk |
1.42% |
9 |
Additions Direct |
www.additionsdirect.co.uk |
1.37% |
10 |
JD Sports |
www.jdsports.co.uk |
1.29% |
About Hitwise:
Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Only Hitwise provides its 1,400 clients around the world with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive websites, and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers.
Since 1997, Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement. Through relationships with ISPs around the world, Hitwise's patented methodology anonymously captures the online usage, search and conversion behaviour of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into an easy to use, web-based service, designed to help marketers better plan, implement and report on a range of online marketing programs.
Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian (FTS: EXPN) www.experiangroup.com operates in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com.
For up-to-date-analysis of online trends, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence-Analyst Weblogs at http://weblogs.hitwise.com and the Hitwise Data Center at www.hitwise.com/datacenter.
About CheetahMail
Experian CheetahMail is the trusted service provider of online marketing solutions for top enterprises worldwide. Offering industry-leading email marketing and customer intelligence solutions, as well as providing a broad range of client services, Experian CheetahMail enables clients to build data-driven, relevant relationships with their customers. Servicing the world’s most recognizable brands, Experian CheetahMail’s globally diverse client base includes Barclays, Borders Books, Discovery Communications, H&R Block, KLM, Sears Holdings Corporation and Wyndham Hotels. Experian CheetahMail, a business unit of Experian® Group Ltd. (LSE:EXPN), was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in New York City with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona.
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