Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

What are Western Australian users doing online? Localising content

2009-06-29T11:26:49Z

Following on from an excellent post by Robin on local Internet data in the UK, I thought I would share an Australian example of our ability to create mini-panels based on users with specific characteristics - in this case users in Western Australia. Like the rest of the population, WA users had the highest volume of visits to Search Engines and Social Networking and Forums. It’s useful however to understand where WA users differ from the rest of the population, particularly for creating content serving the local community. The below table provides a top-line view of the industries that WA users are more likely to engage in compared to other Australians.

Sports categories featured prominently in the industries that WA users were most likely to visit, with Soccer attracting the highest index of 164 (100 is the online average), ahead of AFL – Football with an index of 149. Sporting codes that attracted low visits by WA users were Snow Sports (makes sense geographically) Athletics and Motorsport.

Regional targeting can be cross-tabbed with other metrics, such as Search terms and website visits. This can be useful for brands wishing to benchmark the local awareness of their services, or for advertisers looking for the most targeted websites to reach local audiences. The below table highlights leading search terms used by WA users. I have filtered the list to terms with an index higher than 120 so that you can get an idea of localised behaviour.

A quick glance shows that ‘myspace’ attracted high search volumes by WA users, and was 24% more likely to be used than in other Australian states. Classifieds brand, ‘Quokka’ notably stood out with an index of 803, while ‘perth now’ had an index of 666. The most popular generic term on the list was ‘perth weather’, surprising, as I always thought the answer to that was always “fine” :)

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Time to Shop Around? Opportunities for Financial Comparison Sites

2009-06-25T04:20:05Z

The recent increase in mortgage interest rates by the majors has prompted financial commentators to encourage consumers to shop around for deals from a range of financial institutions. Searches for ‘home loans’ by Australian Internet users accordingly doubled during the week ending 20 June 2009, reaching the highest point in search volume since late April 2009. Given the importance of comparison shopping in the finance industry at this time, here is an update on the leading financial comparison websites, including websites dedicated to specific financial products.

Infochoice dominated financial comparison websites clearly with over 50% market share of visits for the week ending 20 June 2009. Infochoice significantly increased its market share in visits from 32.7% the previous week, due to a sharp increase in referrals from Yahoo!7 Finance. You’ll also notice that the top 15 websites feature a number of financial comparison websites dedicated to credit cards, with Credit Card Offers ranked at 10th position. This suggests there are opportunities for comparison websites focused on term deposits and home loans to increase their market share, especially in the current economic environment. The analysis below provides an indication of the types of websites that received the most traffic on product-related terms.

The pie charts illustrate that financial comparison websites were more likely to receive traffic on searches for ‘credit cards’ and ‘term deposits’ than 'personal loans' and 'home loans'. The leading website to receive traffic on searches for ‘credit cards’ was creditcards.com.au with 31.7% of clicks, while the leading website to receive traffic on searches for ‘term deposits’ was Rate City Australia, with 21.2% of clicks (4 weeks ending 20 June 2009).

Non-bank lenders and banks dominated search traffic from ‘home loans’, with financial comparison websites notably missing from the top 10. Given that consumers will be increasingly looking for ways to optimise paying their home loan off, financial comparison websites should be prioritising home loans content.

Government website visits up 10.4% in Australia year-on-year in March 2009

2009-05-07T01:19:25Z

We've just published a new Hitwise Australia Online Government report, demonstrating that government website visits were up 10.4% year-on-year in March 209. This growth suggests that the community is finding online government services increasingly useful. Australian visits to government websites also outstripped US and UK usage in March 2009.

However, Government agencies need to ensure that the online delivery of their services is meeting the needs of the community, particularly as the Internet becomes a primary point of contact between organisations and users.

As times get tough during the economic downturn, government will play an increasingly important role in providing vital services to the community. The effective delivery of these services through the online channel can result in cost-savings for government and potentially improve community well-being.

Key findings from the report, including a case study on how the Australian community reacted online to the Victorian bushfires in 2009, are as follows:

• Government Agencies should benchmark their websites against similar departments and industry players. The Bureau of Meteorology was the leading Government – National website with an overwhelming 44.8% share of visits in March 2009, and was also the leading News and Media website ahead of major publishers.

• Victorian Bushfires searches dropped off 4 weeks after the crisis. Search analysis can help inform governments of the peak window for community awareness around a given event. Agencies can use also search data to measure awareness of government services.

• Search Engine Optimisation should be used by government websites to compete effectively with the commercial sector. Searches around the Victorian bushfires also demonstrate that the community was more likely to turn to News and Media websites than online government services for vital updates, appeal information, and education around bushfire safety.

• Agencies can determine who they can use for information dissemination based on websites that receive the most traffic on searches. The leading media players to receive informational bushfire searches during the height of the Victorian Bushfires were ABC News Online, Google News Australia and The Age.

• Social Media can be used by government to connect with a broad spectrum of the community. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia all ranked amongst the top websites visited by Australians in March 2009, with each network displaying different audience strengths.

You can also register here to listen to Government webinar next week - presented by Hitwise Research Director, Alan Long and myself.

What gadgets are early adopters searching for?

2009-04-28T01:44:12Z

Later this week I’ll be sharing some insights at the Australian Retail Symposium 2009 on how specific demographic segments search for retail brands and products. I’ve looked at searches by Australian households in our Hitwise Lifestyle segment, ‘Young Ambition’, who are early adopters of technology and are likely to research products over the Internet. Here’s a sample of their leading electronics search terms during March 2009:

• ‘mobile phones’ was the leading product-related search term, but ‘Young Ambition’ were much more likely to search for ‘mobile phone reviews’ with an index of 485 compared to the online population average (100).

• ‘iphone accessories’ attracted higher volumes of search than ‘iphone,’ suggesting that ‘Young Ambition’ are seasoned iPhone users and are now looking for the latest accessories.

• ‘Omnia’ and the ‘LG Web Slider’ are providing strong competition to the iPhone amongst ‘Young Ambition’ households, with high search volumes compared to the online population.

• ‘navman’ and ‘tomtom’ searches were over-represented amongst ‘Young Ambition’ during Christmas 2008 but were under-represented during March 2009. This suggests that navigation products are becoming less of a fad amongst early adopters.

• ‘headphones’, 'cameras' and ‘laptops’ were other leading product search terms. ‘Sennheiser’ related terms also appeared in the long-tail of ‘Young Ambition’ searches.

Retailers can gain an understanding of the products and brands that resound with specific consumer groups by drilling into their search behaviour. Stay tuned for a similar analysis on high-end shoppers and suburban families.

Bushfire Searches: 4 week window of peak community interest

2009-04-22T23:09:26Z

The Victorian bushfires in February 2009 demonstrated how Australians turned to the Internet to get vital information surrounding a crisis. Search data reflected strong community awareness of the Victorian Country Fire Authority, with ‘cfa’ the fastest moving search term driving traffic to all websites in February 2009. Searches that included ‘bushfires’ were three times greater than searches including ‘cfa’ during the height of the crisis, week ending 14 February 2009. The below figure demonstrates the peak of bushfire searches following Black Saturday and how quickly they dropped off.

· ‘Bushfires’ searches decreased by 76.5% the week ending 21 February 2009 compared to week ending 14 February 2009, and dropped a futher 44.3% a fortnight later.

· There was 4-week window for peak community awareness following the Victorian Bushfire tragedy. 6 weeks after the height of the crisis, search activity on ‘bushfires’ dropped to search levels preceding the crisis.

Bushfire Searches became more specific during and after crisis

A detailed study into the bushfire searches provide insight into what types of information requirements emerge at key periods during a crisis. Hitwise found that bushfire searches fell into the following 5 types:

1. ‘Appeal’ searches around fundraising efforts e.g. ‘redcross bushfire appeal’
2. ‘Education’ searches around historical knowledge and future planning e.g. ‘bushfire survival’
3. ‘General’ searches e.g. ‘victorian bushfires’
4. ‘Informational’ searches around news and geographical updates e.g. ‘bushfire map’
5. ‘Services’ searches around government and commercial agencies e.g. ‘cfa bushfires’

· ‘Informational’ searches were strong throughout, with timeliness the key in providing community updates. The top 5 websites to receive ‘Informational’ searches during the height of the crisis (week ending 14 February 2009) were the Victoria Country Fire Authority, ABC News Online, Google News Australia, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, and The Age.

·The community were willing to provide support immediately with ‘Appeal’ searches prevalent during the week ending 14 February 2009. ‘Appeal’ searches however dropped off significantly 5 weeks after the crisis.

· News and Media websites attracted the most traffic from all types of bushfire searches apart from ‘Services’ following the crisis. However News and Media websites received a smaller allocation of paid traffic on ‘bushfire’ Searches (5.8%) than Government websites (8.7%) during the week ending 14 March 2009, suggesting that organic traffic was a more important driver of traffic.

·The proportion of ‘Education’ searches peaked 5 weeks following the crisis, suggesting ongoing demand for information to avoid a repeat of the disaster. Wikipedia was the top website to receive ‘Educational’ during the crisis (week ending 14 March 2009). While Government websites received a significant portion of search traffic with 8.9%, it is clear agencies need to compete with a range of sources in providing reliable and authoritative information to the public.

Making sure government websites are optimised for searches on key issues

Government agencies can use online behaviour surrounding the Victorian bushfire case study to understand the needs of the community, when information is crucial for saving lives. By investing in best practice Search Engine Optimisation, such as using keyword research to determine the language of the community, government agencies can ensure they are a key source of information. Government agencies can also work with leading online news outlets for information dissemination.

We will be releasing an Online Government report very soon that includes the bushfire case study so stay tuned. Hitwise Research Director, Alan Long and Product Director for Search Marketing Services, Stuart McKeown will also be speaking at this AMI event on 30 April: Best practices for government, community organisations and consumer marketing.

Bricks and Mortar Retailers in Australia are winning the online battle

2009-03-02T00:23:54Z

Last week we released our latest Hitwise APAC report, Retail Review Christmas 2008 – Insights for Retail Planning. A key takeout from the report was the significant shift towards Bricks and Mortar Retailers during Christmas 2008, as traditional brands began to leverage online for connecting directly with consumers (Alan first spotted this trend in Australia late last year).

According to Hitwise, visits to Bricks and Mortar Retailers by Australian Internet users attracted year-on-year growth of 19.2% in December 2008, while visits to Online Retailers declined by 7.7%. There are several reasons for this movement: the ‘flight to quality’ or attractiveness of brands that consumers know and trust during an economic downturn; the drop in the Australian dollar; and the improved online marketing performance by some traditional brands. Online is being revisited as a key channel for brands to differentiate themselves against competitors.

Another major trend in 2008 was the heightened importance of post-Christmas sales, which are now occurring over a longer period. Boxing Day remained a key retail opportunity, attracting the most daily visits in 2008 by Australian Internet users. Bricks and Mortar Retailers particularly benefited from traffic on Boxing Day 2008, attracting year-on-year growth in visits of 29%.

Other major findings from the report include:

•Appliances and Electronics is the fastest growing retail category: Appliances and Electronics websites enjoyed the strongest growth in the retail sector over Christmas, with Australian visits increasing by 27.2% amongst all websites comparing December 2007 and December 2008. This growth is underpinned by a significant investment in paid search (see my previous retail update).

•Shoppers hunt for second-hand products during downturn: Australian visits to the Classifieds category increased 24.9% in December 2008 compared to December 2007.

•Top retail brands are increasing their share of the search pie: The top 100 retail brands in December 2008 in Australia grew in search volume by 27.9%, while in New Zealand and Singapore the top brands grew by 21.1% and 10.6% respectively.

•Bricks and Mortar Retailers are attracting affluent shoppers online: Bricks and Mortar Retailers in Australia were 28% more likely than Online Retailers to attract visits from the Mosaic Lifestyle Group, ‘Young Ambition’; Educated and high-earning young singles and sharers in the inner suburbs.

I thought I would also share this Treemap that we presented during our retail webinar last week. In the research team, we’re always on the lookout for different visualisation techniques for Hitwise data. In this case, we found Treemaps particularly effective for communicating dual metrics on a macro level. In the map below, the size of each rectangle represents Australian market share of visits within the Shopping & Classifieds industry. More ‘blue’ rectangles represent sub-categories with high growth, while more ‘orange’ rectangles represent sectors with higher rates of decline.

Click image to enlarge:

This analysis shows that Auctions is by far the largest sub-category within the Hitwise Shopping & Classifieds industry, accounting for over a third of visits in January 2009. Rewards and Directories, which includes comparison shopping websites, accounted for about 10%, highlighting its importance as an affiliate sector. ‘Blue’ or fast moving industries included Appliances and Electronics, Classifieds, Apparel and Accessories, and House and Garden. ‘Orange’ or declining industries included Ticketing and Music.

You can also check out Heather’s retail map in the US. I’d be keen to hear your feedback on Treemaps and any other suggestions you have for data visualisation.

Maps and Cheap Cruises Growing Online in Australia

2009-02-22T23:16:48Z

Travel - Maps was the fastest growing travel sector in Australia during January 2009, with visits increasing 39.3% year-on-year according to Hitwise. It was also one of the fastest growing industries amongst all websites.

Google Maps (.com and .com.au) directly contributed to the growth of the Maps industry, jumping from a combined market share in visits of 44.7% in January 2008 to 74.7% in January 2009. 'Google Maps' was also the fastest moving search term driving traffic to the Travel industry year-on-year in January 2009, highlighting increasing consumer awareness of the service.

The launch of Street View had a big impact on visits to Maps in August 2008, with the enhanced mapping service receiving significant traffic referrals from major news publishers. Since August 2008, the Maps industry has increased and consolidated its lead over visits to Travel – Agencies. Maps websites attracted 1.4x more visits than Agencies in January 2009.

The significant growth in visits to the Maps industry is a signal to all businesses dependent on tourism that their contact information needs to be well-optimised on search for mapping services.

Cruises Industry Defies Downturn

Another significant trend in the travel industry in Australia was growth to the Travel - Cruises industry of 15.2% year-on-year in January 2009. Heather Hopkins wrote last year about searches for cruise deals soaring in the US downturn market, and we're seeing a similar pattern in Australia. Searches that include 'cheap cruises', increased by 20% comparing the 4 weeks ending 31 January 2009 against the same time period last year. Many of the recent search variations on 'cheap cruises' included local destinations, such as Cairns, Perth and the Whitsundays. Searches on locations further abroad included the Mediterranean, Pacific Islands and Africa.

The top 10 websites in the Cruises industry all contributed to industry growth, with visits to the two fastest-moving players, Princess Cruises and VactionsToGo.com increasing by 104.2% and 69.6% respectively against all sites (yoy in Jan 09). P&O Cruises Australia was the leading site in January 2009 with 14.81% market share of visits, while Australian cruises aggregators, Ozcruising and Best Cruises also performed strongly ranking at 4th and 5th position respectively.

General travel agencies should consider giving prominence to deals for cruises on their websites given the increased interest by Australian consumers and significant competition by cruises specialists.

Plurk attracts more Visits than Twitter in Singapore

2009-02-10T06:16:50Z

We've given a fair amount of coverage to how Twitter has tracked recently in Australia, the US and UK, but it's always interesting to compare regional differences. I was surprised to find that Plurk, a microblogging website that displays updates on a timeline, first overtook visits to Twitter during July 2008 in Singapore. Plurk furthermore attracted 1.5x more visits than Twitter during the week ending 7 February 2009.

Blogger was the leading source of traffic to Plurk, accounting for 13.9% of upstream traffic, week ending 7 February 2009, and was also the main point of difference in referrals between Plurk and Twitter (difference of 11.9%). The strong influence of traffic referrals by Blogger is underpinned by its ranking as the 7th most visited website overall by Singapore Internet users.

Lifestyle – Blogs and Personal Websites overall were responsible for 18.8% of traffic to Plurk. This traffic movement suggests that Singapore users are becoming less likely to devote their time to writing full-length posts, preferring the quick format and immediate response that microblogging offers.

I'd be interested to hear from Singapore readers as to why they prefer Plurk over Twitter.

Christmas 2008 Retail Analysis: Electronics Retailers Most Active on Paid Search

2009-02-02T23:28:42Z

Appliances and Electronics websites enjoyed the strongest growth in the retail sector over Christmas, with Australian visits increasing by 27.2% amongst all websites comparing December 2007 and December 2008. Underpinning the strong performance of visits to Appliances and Electronics websites was a significant investment in paid search traffic by electronics retailers.

In a Hitwise portfolio of the top 100 product search terms driving traffic to the Shopping and Classifieds industry, electronics-related terms accounted for 63.59% of paid clicks (4 weeks ending 27 December 2008). The top 100 product search term portfolio represented 5.86% of all paid clicks to Shopping and Classifieds websites.

Top 100 Product Search Terms to Shopping and Classifieds by Product Category

· Competition on leading paid terms was fierce, with paid rates (versus organic traffic) ranging from 18.54% ('Music') to 56.37% ('Tickets).

· The leading product search term was the 'iphone', attracting a paid search rate of 69.02%. Other leading product terms included, 'wii', 'ipod', 'tomtom', and 'navman'.

· Google was responsible for driving 20.34% of paid clicks to the top 100 product search terms; followed by Live with 0.69% and Yahoo! Search with 0.56% (Search Engine analysis is on respective Australian and .com properties).

In addition to capitalising on the peak shopping period for the year, the strong activity on pay-per-click campaigns by retailers may have been motivated by the Government stimulus package before Christmas; retailers were looking for a boost in consumers spending on presents. Retailers will need to monitor and adjust their search marketing efforts in response to any spending incentives provided by the Government this year.

Update 6 February:

Based on feedback here is clarification of the Search Engine Analysis provided above:

Paid clicks represented 21.79% of search traffic to the top 100 product search term portfolio. If we look at the total clicks sent, including both paid and organic, Google represented 93.17%, Live 3.61% and Yahoo 2.3 % of traffic.

We'll be releasing a Hitwise APAC Christmas 2008 Retail report later this month so stay tuned.

Twitter Maintains Growth in Visits in Australia

2009-01-14T00:21:16Z

I've had various readers and friends ask me for an update on Twitter, as anecdotally it appears to be gaining traction in Australia.

Visits to Twitter had a short term dip between September 2008 and November 2008, but have steadily climbed again to January 2009, and were at an all time high for the week ending 10 January 2009. Twitter has maintained its phenomenal yearly growth rate, increasing year-on-year in web visits by 517.9% (w/ending 10 January 2009 compared to the same week last year).

Twitter's recent growth is due to a resurgence in referrals from Facebook, which is also maintaining a strong following amongst Australian Internet users. The linked growth highlights the continued rise in the use of the Internet as a networking tool in social and business contexts vs the consumption of information.

I also suspect that increased visits to Twitter this week has been prompted by Australian professionals returning to the workplace: Twitter is a particularly useful industry networking and knowledge sharing tool. Thoughts?

New Festive Food Searches this Year

2008-12-24T00:18:52Z

Last year I wrapped up my blog with a look at some traditional Aussie fare for Christmas. Using our recently upgraded comparison tool on Hitwise Search Intelligence™, which allows you to quickly find new variations on search terms; I thought I'd take a glance at some culinary newbies. The below two tables indicate exclusive search variations on 'recipe' and 'recipes' for the 4 weeks ending December 20, 2008 compared to the same period last year:

You'll notice some interesting looking recipes (e.g. 'chocolate mint herb recipes'), references to specialist lifestyle choices (e.g. 'alkaline recipes') and recipes associated with brands (e.g. 'alive and cooking recipes').

On a more general level, you'll also notice that new search variations tend to include more keywords and are therefore more specific. The comparison search tool allows you to find more targeted and cost-effective terms as well as informing new content development.

For the record, the 'chocolate coconut macaroon recipes' term looks the most intriguing to me and I may try my hand at it over the break. Merry Christmas everyone!

Urban Households in Australia Dining Out in Downturn

2008-11-19T00:26:28Z

We've written previously about how recipe websites appear to be recession proof – In Australia, we're seeing a similar trend with the Food and Beverage - Lifestyle and Reference industry growing 36.43% in visits week ending 15 November 2008 compared to the same week last year. While the down economy might be prompting some households to do more home cooking, we've also measured an increase in visits of 8.85% to Restaurants and Catering websites by Australian users, suggesting that not all households have clinched their spending on eating out. Indeed, BIS Shrapnel notes that eating out remains a "way of life" for Australians.

In the Restaurants and Catering industry users were drawn to both budget outlets and high-end dining guides. Domino's Pizza Australia was the leading website for the week ending 15 November 2008 accounting for 10.38% share of visits, followed by ninemsn – yourRestaurants with 9.34% share. Menulog, an aggregated delivery service, ranked fourth with 6.46% share.

Hitwise Lifestyle Demographics data indicates that urban households are more likely than average to visits Restaurant and Catering websites. There were three main household segments identified from a mixture of income levels, including, Mosaic Groups "Young Ambition", educated and high-earning young singles and sharers in the inner suburbs, "Metro Multiculture", households in medium to high density areas with much cultural diversity, and "Learners and Earners", students and professionals living in high density, lower cost suburbs.

Several food and beverage chains have capitalised on consumer search for vouchers, with 'dominos vouchers', appearing as the top variation on 'vouchers' for the 4 weeks ending 15 November 2008. Other brands included, 'pizza hut vouchers', 'hungry jacks vouchers', 'subway vouchers' and 'kfc vouchers'. Catering websites were active on paid search campaigns, with 7.52% of search terms derived from paid traffic.

Just as budget restaurant chains have been active in promoting their voucher schemes online, high-end outlets should consider what value programs they offer to compete for tightened disposable spend.

NZ Election - Politics Category Visits at all Time High

2008-11-11T04:08:21Z

The New Zealand election held on 8 November 2008 drew an all time high in daily visits to the Hitwise Lifestyle – Politics industry by NZ Internet users; 3.5 times greater than the daily average over a three year period. News & Media and Government – National websites also spiked in visits on 8 November by 12.1% and 36.1% respectively compared to the previous day, highlighting voter engagement with the online channel during the election.

Decision08, a sister website to 3 News, shot through to the top ranking in the Politics industry on 8 November 2008, accounting for 20.85% share of visits, representing a 3.9 fold increase on the previous day. The day following the election, the National Party website became the leading site in the Politics industry with 14.32% share, as users sought more information on the National Party leader, John Key, and their election win.

TVNZ and Elections New Zealand were also fast moving websites on 8 November 2008. TVNZ increased from a ranking of #25 to #14 amongst all websites, while Elections New Zealand increased from #59 to #26.

Search Opportunities for News and Media Websites

Last week Heather Hopkins wrote that News and Media websites had more opportunity to optimize on generic terms related to the US election. Similarly during the NZ general election, there were opportunities for News and Media websites to receive more traffic from candidate searches. For example, News and Media websites only received 8% of searches for 'helen clark' compared to 19.55% to Government – National websites (12 weeks ending 8/11/08). Searches for 'john key' were most likely to result in a visit to the Politics industry with 23.21% of clicks, compared to 6.36% to News and Media websites. Online publishers should be optimizing for generic terms based around events, in addition to branded search.

Guarantee Searches Spike

2008-10-28T03:51:28Z

The introduction of a deposit guarantee by the Australian federal government a fortnight ago has resulted in a 56.1% increase in searches related to 'guarantee' by Australian Internet users. As Perpetual chief executive David Deverall said, "The word 'guarantee' is clearly a very, very important word in the minds of consumers at the moment." Some fund managers have frozen significant assets in the wake of a run on institutions not covered by the deposit guarantee.

Top search variations on guarantee for the 4 weeks ending 25/10/08 included, 'superannuation guarantee' (though likely to be related to employer super obligations), 'bank deposit guarantee', 'bank guarantee', 'government bank guarantee' and references to 'kevin rudd bank guarantee', highlighting the political nature of the issue.

News & Media Websites Receive Majority of Traffic from Guarantee Searches

An analysis of leading search variations on 'guarantee' indicate that News & Media websites received 22.36% of clicks (search resulting in a website visit), followed by Banks and Financial Institutions websites with 17.7% of clicks for the 4 weeks ending 25/10/08. The Superannuation industry, which includes websites of major fund managers, in contrast received only 0.75% of clicks – highlighting room for funds to better optimise communications that address investor fears. The paid allocation on 'guarantee' searches only accounted for 0.49% of traffic, suggesting Pay-Per-Click opportunities for the major banks.

House and Sports Shopping Sites Grow in Visits by Kiwis

2008-10-17T00:38:15Z

Online Retailers in the New Zealand House & Garden and Sports & Fitness industries enjoyed substantial growth of 55.1% and 35.2% respectively against all websites in September 2008 compared to September 2007. Leading players in these sectors are well placed to take advantage of the fast approaching Christmas shopping period.

The top website in the online House & Garden industry was Mitre 10 New Zealand, which accounted for 9.35% market share of visits in September 2008. Mitre 10 New Zealand grew its share of the House & Garden industry by 61.7% year on year in September 2008.

Specialty websites around baby furnishings and wear featured prominently amongst the top 10 websites, including The Baby Factory, Baby Universe and Babycity.co.nz. Other leading House & Garden websites included Bunnings Warehouse New Zealand with 2.74% share of visits and Briscoes Homeware with 2.37% share.

In the Sports & Fitness industry, Torpedo7, a retailer for biking gear, dominated with 14.9% share of visits in September 2008, representing a 3-fold increase from the same time last year. Leading bricks and mortar brands also had a strong presence online with Rebel Sport New Zealand, Adidas and Nike featuring amongst the top 5 websites.

Vouchermate Takes Off Amidst Economic Downturn

As economic conditions tighten, consumers hit the web to maximise their discretionary spend. Vouchermate, a website where companies display downloadable vouchers for discounts on their goods and services, has risen quickly in online usage in New Zealand. The NZ website increase more than 4-fold between weeks ending 5 July 2008 and 11 October 2008, and ranked at fourth position in the Hitwise Shopping & Classifieds – Rewards & Directories category, week ending 11 October 2008. Search Terms driving traffic to VoucherMate were primarily brand-oriented, with 'voucher mate' accounting for 16.6% of clicks (search resulting in a visit) for the 24-weeks ending 11 October 2008 - highlighting the strength of the Vouchermate brand amongst New Zealand consumers.