Shopping.com, the leading online comparison shopping site, today reported that by "Black Friday" consumer referrals or leads to retailers on its site increased by 40 percent over last year's referral traffic for November to date. The highest growth came in more traditional offline retail categories such as kids and family, home and garden and clothing and accessories.
Leads to merchants within Shopping.com's kids and family category grew by a staggering 70 percent year-over-year for November to-date, while referrals in home and garden grew by 51 percent and by 47 percent in clothing and accessories. Shopping.com's electronics and computers categories saw more typical growth patterns this year, with referral traffic growing by 16 percent and 22 percent respectively.
Despite the high increase in merchant referral traffic, Shopping.com doesn't expect Black Friday to be its busiest day. The Black Friday equivalent for online shopping is Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Last holiday, Shopping.com received its highest number of visitors on Cyber Monday, November 28, with most visitors coming to the site between noon and 2 p.m. Pacific. However, Shopping.com saw the most sustained activity on its site for the season on Monday, December 12, 2005, indicating that more consumers tend to browse earlier in the season, but make most of their purchases later on.
"eTail is looking more and more like retail every year, and this year we're seeing more mainstream consumers than ever before use the Internet to find, compare and buy their gifts," said Josh Silverman, general manager of Shopping.com. "Surprisingly, our highest-growth categories this season are not in more traditional online goods like electronics, but instead are in household goods and clothing categories as consumers become more comfortable buying online and as expedited shipping prices drop and reliability improves. And since Shopping.com recently added many new tools and features that simplify online shopping and help consumers save money and time, it's no surprise that our leads to merchants are significantly higher this year."
Shopping.com currently welcomes more than 40 million global unique site visitors each month, according to comScore Media Metrix. As shoppers find, compare and buy from more than 8,000 merchants with 60 million products across 280 categories, Shopping.com offers an expert perspective on holiday retail trends in the online world.
2006 Hot Holiday Products
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, Shopping.com was the third largest e-commerce destination last holiday season and based on consumer demand at Shopping.com on Black Friday, the most popular products for the 2006 holiday season include:
Electronics
- Apple iPod Nano and iPod Video
- Microsoft Xbox 360 video game console
- PlayStation 3 video game console and PlayStation Portable video game console
- Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital Camera
- Panasonic 50 inch HDTV Plasma TV
Toys
- TMX Tickle Me Elmo
- LeapFrog Leapster Multimedia Learning System
- My Little Pony Crystal Rainbow Castle
- Hasbro Fur Real Friends Butterscotch Plush Pony
- Fisher-Price Power Wheels Barbie Jammin' Jeep Wrangler
For the Home
- Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee Maker
- Dirt Devil Kone Vacuum
- iRobot Roomba Vacuum
- Cuisinart 7-Cup Food Processor
- George Foreman G5 Indoor Grill
Clothing/Accessories
- Michael Kors Michael Slouch Harness Boot
- Adidas a3 Gigaride Running Shoes For Men
- Ugg's Women's Boots
- Spy Astro Sunglasses
- Oakley Women's Minute Sunglasses
Category Searches Reveal Top Consumer Preferences for Holiday 2006
Popular searches within Shopping.com's major product categories help indicate key retail buying trends for the 2006 holiday season:
Home and Garden:
- Consumers are tired of the clutter in their lives and put Cuisinart coffee makers and the nimble Dirt Devil Kone Vacuum cleaners on their list so they can "perk up" and organize their lives. Both products have ranked #1 and 2 respectively in our Home & Garden category for several weeks. Other popular vacuums on Shopping.com include iRobot Roomba motorized models. We also saw increased interest from consumers on Black Friday for higher-ticket home and garden items such as washers and dryers.
Shoes:
- More people headed online to add luxury to their wardrobes this year. Our top-selling boot was from high-end designer, Michael Kors, the Michael Slouch Harness Boot for women. Last year's top-selling boot was the Ugg Classic Women's Classic Short Boots. Others kept their pocketbooks in check this Black Friday and went with the more affordable Adidas a3 Gigaride Running Shoes for Men after they discovered that even prices for shoes like the a3 are competitive on Shopping.com "" ranging from $73 - $120 from our merchant partners.
Electronics:
- High Definition Plasma TVs continue to be in-demand this holiday as price points drop further and further. In fact, eight of the 20 most popular "Black Friday" products were HDTVs. The most popular being the Samsung 42", which can vary in cost by as much as $1,000 on Shopping.com. Sling Media's Slingbox adapter for redirecting TV signals from your cable box to your computer of choice also made its way into many boxes under the tree this season, and can be found on Shopping.com from $125 to $200.
Toys:
- Elmo for President? Elmo proves his popularity yet again as the newest TMX Tickle Me Elmo was the most popular toy on Shopping.com this Black Friday, with the Hasbro Barbie's Jammin' Jeep Wrangler Power Wheels following closely in Elmo's dust. It pays to compare on Shopping.com. Barbie's Jammin' Jeep Wrangler is listed on our site from 7 merchants, for prices which can vary by as much as $100.
About Shopping.com
Shopping.com, an eBay company, pioneered online comparison shopping and today is one of the fastest growing shopping destinations on the Internet with items from thousands of trusted stores from across the Web. With a singular focus on shopping, Shopping.com offers shoppers easy-to-use search tools, engaging content, time-saving navigation, along with millions of product and merchant reviews from the Epinions community, all in one place. The Shopping.com Network powers the shopping experience for hundreds of websites.