Online Christmas Shopping Gets Off to a Strong Start in U.K. as French Activity Gains Momentum
LONDON, U.K., NOVEMBER 22, 2007 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the first in a series of studies into the online shopping activity of U.K., French and German consumers over the Christmas shopping period. The study tracked cyber shopping activity, defined as visits to secure Web pages of online retail sites.
Online Christmas Shopping Starts Early in the U.K.
In the U.K., online Christmas shopping is already well underway, with cyber shopping traffic up 23 percent in the third week of November versus the shopping activity in the base month of October. Christmas shopping in France started more slowly, but is beginning to gather pace and grew by 18 percent over October’s level in the third week of November. German activity was actually 10 percent lower than in October caused in part by the trade union strikes in the transport and service industries that are currently affecting the German economy as a whole.
Christmas Online Shopping Index*Visits to Secure Sections of Online Retailing SitesU.K., France, & GermanySource: Comscore World Metrix, 2007
Time Period
U.K.
France
Germany
Base Period Index (Oct 1 – Oct 28)**
100
Week 1 (Oct 29 - Nov 4)
107
84
99
Week 2 (Nov 5 - Nov 11)
124
108
95
Week 3 (Nov 12 - Nov 18)
123
118
90
*Point index represents the percentage change in the number of visits to secure sections of online retail sites compared to the pre-Christmas season base period average**Derived from the average weekly visits to secure sections of online retail sites for the period Oct 1 – Oct 28
These figures reinforce the results of the Comscore Christmas Shopping Survey, released last week, which found that 30 percent of U.K. respondents intended to start their Christmas shopping within the first two weeks of November. Comparatively, only 19 percent of French respondents said that they intended to start their Christmas shopping during this period. While 38% of the German’s surveyed had planned to start shopping by now, the delivery uncertainty seems to be interfering.
“Online shopping is one of the most popular of internet activities,” said Bob Ivins, Comscore EVP of European Markets. “Over the next few weeks, we would not expect to see a huge increase in the number of online shoppers – they are already there – accounting for 70 percent of the total European online population. But what we will see is a significant increase in the frequency of shopping online, and an increase in the conversion of browsers to buyers, which ultimately means more online sales this Christmas.”
About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given Comscore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. Comscore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, Comscore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. Comscore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. Comscore services are used by more than 800 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com
Ayaan MohamudComscore, Inc.+ 44 (0) 207-099-1775worldpress@comscore.com