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Comparison shopping sites enjoy boom
A massive surge in the usage of comparison shopping websites shows how much potential there is for online advertisers.
Figures from metrix firm Hitwise show that online traffic to a category of comparison shopping websites increased by 56 per cent for the week ending November 3rd, compared to the same time a year ago.
Yahoo! Shopping cornered 20 per cent of the market (an increase of 44 per cent), with Smarter.com and Bizrate also posting huge gains as more shoppers switch from the high street to the internet.
Those retailers benefiting most from this trend were identified as Amazon, eBay, Target, Wal-Mart, JCPenney and Overstock.com.
The main way in which traffic was directed to these sites was via search engines, with Google referring 20 per cent of visitors and Yahoo referring 14 per cent.
Popular products searched for on comparison shopping sites included laptops, LCD TVs, iPods, digital cameras and video game systems.
"As we enter the holiday shopping season, consumers are beginning to research potential gift purchases and compare prices earlier than last year especially with retailers beginning to roll out seasonal promotions," said Hitwise's Heather Dougherty.
"Baby boomers are the main visitors of comparison shopping websites and our search term data indicates that consumer electronics continue to be popular amongst these comparison shoppers."
Corporate Internet news posted on 09 November 2007
