medialifemagazine.com
What's hot as etailing chills: Coupons
By Heidi Dawley
Oct 28, 2008 - 1:05:27 AM
The economy is on the fritz, home prices keep falling, the stock market continues to sink, and retail sales are hurting at the worst time of the year, heading into the holidays.
Now add another to that list: declining traffic to online retail sites.
Visits to the top 500 online retailers were down 5 percent in the week ended Oct. 18 compared to the same week the year before, according to Hitwise, the web tracking outfit.
Yet it's not across the board.
Traffic is actually up in certain retail categories, such as groceries and alcohol, as well as the health and beauty category, which includes drug stores.
What's driving it is the urge among more and more consumers to save money by shopping smarter. These suddenly hot sites offer coupons and information on weekly specials.
“You are really seeing people using the internet to gather information and coupons before they head to the store,” explains Heather Dougherty, director of research at Hitwise.
Interestingly, the slowdown to retail sites overall is recent, going back just seven weeks, despite what's been a weakening economy going back well into 2007.
But for those seven weeks traffic has been off consistently.
“I think that what we are really seeing is consumers shutting their wallets, at least temporarily, as they watch to see what happens with the economic climate,” says Dougherty. But she notes another factor could be the upcoming election, with consumers holding off on spending as they wait to see who wins the White House.
In this traffic slowdown, hardest hit has been computers, where traffic was down 19 percent the week ended Oct. 18, followed by sites that sell tickets to movies and local events, off 12 percent.
Which makes sense when you think about it. People are likely to be making do with their old computers and skipping a trip to the movies in favor of a night watching TV.
Traffic's also down to perennial holiday favorites like toys, music, games and appliances, and that's because people are holding off deciding what gifts they are going to buy for the holidays, says Dougherty.
The toys and hobby sites saw traffic fall 10 percent, while music sites dropped 9 percent.
But for those sites where traffic is up, it's up smartly: 18 percent for grocery and alcohol sites and 14 percent for health and beauty. And as Dougherty notes it's the draw of coupons that's driving it. Indeed, sites dedicated to offering coupons of all sorts are up 53 percent.
Also up: The house and garden category, though just 3 percent, as people turn to fixing up the homes they've got in this weak housing market and searching for energy-saving products.
Interestingly, visits to price-comparison sites are down, and Dougherty believes it's because people just aren’t spending. But she expects it to pick up when consumers begin buying present for the holidays.
The same goes for overall retail traffic, says Dougherty. "I think we will see higher traffic than in the past, and also a record traffic year for the comparison shopping sites."
***
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Oct. 19, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. The top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, Microsoft and AOL Media Network.
Experian Group Limited maintained the top advertiser spot for the third straight week with 2.35 million impressions, followed by Scottrade at No. 2 with 1.37 million. With 14.57 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MSN at 2.76 million.
Sessions per person per week were even to the previous week at 16, and domains visited per person were up one to 39. PC time per person was up 3 percent compared with the previous week to 18 hours.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through Oct. 19 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
97,313
|
69.0
|
0:37:08
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
87,812
|
62.2
|
0:47:53
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
81,585
|
57.8
|
1:06:50
|
|
4
|
Time Warner (Division)*
|
58,869
|
41.7
|
1:15:53
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
46,387
|
32.9
|
0:37:14
|
|
6
|
InterActiveCorp
|
31,789
|
22.5
|
0:10:52
|
|
7
|
eBay
|
31,249
|
22.1
|
0:45:05
|
|
8
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
27,509
|
19.5
|
0:10:20
|
|
9
|
Amazon
|
25,036
|
17.7
|
0:11:51
|
|
10
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
24,427
|
17.3
|
0:20:43
|
|
11
|
Apple Computer
|
23,004
|
16.3
|
0:28:46
|
|
12
|
CBS Corporation
|
22,731
|
16.1
|
0:11:57
|
|
13
|
Facebook
|
22,403
|
15.9
|
0:46:11
|
|
14
|
Turner Network (Division)
|
21,815
|
15.5
|
0:19:58
|
|
15
|
New York Times Company
|
19,847
|
14.1
|
0:13:43
|
|
16
|
Landmark Communications
|
19,373
|
13.7
|
0:11:09
|
|
17
|
AT&T Inc.
|
16,653
|
11.8
|
0:21:07
|
|
18
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
13,882
|
9.8
|
0:17:34
|
|
19
|
Comcast Corp.
|
13,849
|
9.8
|
0:26:26
|
|
20
|
Glam Media
|
13,738
|
9.7
|
0:09:48
|
|
21
|
CraigsList
|
13,424
|
9.5
|
0:35:03
|
|
22
|
United Online
|
13,042
|
9.2
|
0:24:09
|
|
23
|
Viacom Digital
|
12,697
|
9.0
|
0:21:25
|
|
24
|
Verizon Communications
|
12,188
|
8.6
|
0:17:52
|
|
25
|
General Electric
|
12,137
|
8.6
|
0:12:04
|
|
* Time Warner division excludes Turner Network’s audience
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division.
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through Oct. 19 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
88,778
|
62.9
|
0:26:48
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
80,434
|
57.0
|
1:07:16
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
67,660
|
47.9
|
0:48:45
|
|
4 |
Microsoft
|
54,373
|
38.5
|
0:16:33
|
|
5 |
AOL Media Network
|
52,778
|
37.4
|
1:22:07
|
|
6 |
YouTube
|
38,860
|
27.5
|
0:26:55
|
|
7 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
38,269
|
27.1
|
0:38:49
|
|
8 |
Wikipedia
|
27,291
|
19.3
|
0:10:22
|
|
9 |
eBay
|
25,243
|
17.9
|
0:48:29
|
|
10 |
Apple
|
23,004
|
16.3
|
0:28:46
|
|
11 |
Facebook
|
22,403
|
15.9
|
0:46:11
|
|
12 |
Amazon
|
20,042
|
14.2
|
0:11:50
|
|
13 |
Ask Search Network
|
19,160
|
13.6
|
0:09:21
|
|
14 |
CNN Digital Network
|
17,961
|
12.7
|
0:20:22
|
|
15 |
Blogger
|
17,312
|
12.3
|
0:06:27
|
|
16 |
Weather Channel
|
17,053
|
12.1
|
0:11:42
|
|
17 |
Real Network
|
13,872
|
9.8
|
0:17:34
|
|
18 |
Glam Media
|
13,738
|
9.7
|
0:09:48
|
|
19 |
Craigslist
|
13,415
|
9.5
|
0:35:04
|
|
20 |
AT&T
|
13,374
|
9.5
|
0:23:53
|
|
21 |
About.com
|
13,059
|
9.3
|
0:03:43
|
|
22 |
Bank of America
|
11,471
|
8.1
|
0:24:30
|
|
23 |
ESPN
|
10,334
|
7.3
|
0:24:39
|
|
24 |
Comcast
|
9,878
|
7.0
|
0:34:58
|
|
25 |
Gorilla Nation
|
9,210
|
6.5
|
0:05:10
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content. |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Oct. 19 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Experian Group Limited
|
2,347,005
|
|
2 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
1,370,250
|
|
3 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
1,219,135
|
|
4 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
1,033,989
|
|
5 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
867,748
|
|
6 |
AT&T Corp.
|
829,240
|
|
7 |
HSBC Holdings plc
|
770,327
|
|
8 |
InterActiveCorp
|
709,563
|
|
9 |
United Online, Inc.
|
640,173
|
|
10 |
Ford Motor Company
|
633,228
|
|
11 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
613,563
|
|
12 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
581,363
|
|
13 |
Sprint Corporation
|
570,012
|
|
14 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
558,435
|
|
15 |
General Motors Corporation
|
520,374
|
|
16 |
Cendant Corporation
|
520,168
|
|
17 |
Bank of America Corporation
|
496,781
|
|
18 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
394,372
|
|
19 |
TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
|
384,194
|
|
20 |
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
|
383,788
|
|
21 |
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
|
324,318
|
|
22 |
FreeScore.com
|
324,313
|
|
23 |
Degrees.info
|
324,129
|
|
24 |
Dell Computer Corporation
|
323,041
|
|
25 |
Fandango, Inc.
|
288,914
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through Oct. 19 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
14,569,726
|
|
2 |
MSN
|
2,761,290
|
|
3 |
Comcast.net
|
1,623,428
|
|
4 |
MSNBC
|
1,356,727
|
|
5 |
MySpace
|
1,200,552
|
|
6 |
AOL.com
|
1,090,412
|
|
7 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
679,310
|
|
8 |
The Weather Channel
|
615,060
|
|
9 |
Facebook
|
565,681
|
|
10 |
IMDb
|
513,593
|
|
11 |
CNBC
|
471,005
|
|
12 |
Juno
|
468,094
|
|
13 |
ESPN.com
|
372,806
|
|
14 |
eBay
|
361,946
|
|
15 |
CNN
|
361,521
|
|
16 |
CNN Money
|
347,083
|
|
17 |
Pogo
|
316,301
|
|
18 |
NetZero
|
314,053
|
|
19 |
TheStreet.com
|
312,499
|
|
20 |
New York Times
|
304,033
|
|
21 |
Amazon
|
255,945
|
|
22 |
NeoPets
|
232,531
|
|
23 |
Perezhilton.com
|
224,361
|
|
24 |
AT&T Worldnet
|
209,873
|
|
25 |
Drudge Report
|
204,666
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through Oct. 19 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
16
|
16
|
0
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
39
|
38
|
2.63
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
18:00:50
|
17:29:25
|
2.99
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
141,125,485
|
140,626,777
|
0.35
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
224,913,466
|
224,879,336
|
0.02
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
© 2010 Media Life
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