Americans flocked to retail and shipping sites during the end-of-year shopping frenzy, while holiday festivities also caused a surge in traffic to flowers/gifts/greetings and e-card sites, according to the monthly analysis of US web activity at the top-growing properties and site categories for December 2009 from comScore, Inc.
The analysis revealed that Tuesday, Dec. 15 was the heaviest online spending day of the year? -? and of all time? -? at $913 million, comScore said.
Holiday Shopping Spurs Retail Growth
Retail sites continued to climb in December as Americans scoured the web for deals. Among the top-gaining retail sub-categories were jewelry/luxury goods/accessories, sports/outdoor, and flowers/gifts/greetings sites, each growing more than 20% vs.? November 2009.
Jewelry/luxury goods/accessories sites attracted nearly 23 million visitors during the month, representing a 30% increase from November, comScore said. eBags, Inc. led the category with 2.9 million visitors (up 28%), followed by Coach.com with 2.2 million visitors (up 26 percent), Zale Corporation with 2.1 million (up 48%) and Kay Jewelers with 1.7 million (up 69%).
Sports/Outdoor sites grew to nearly 39 million visitors during the month, a 25% increase vs. November, led by eBay Sports US with 5.1 million visitors (up 21%), which was closely followed by Cabelas, Inc. with 5.0 million visitors (up 26%).
DicksSportingGoods.com grabbed the #3 position with 4.6 million visitors (up 39%), followed by SportsAuthority.com with 2.9 million visitors (up 29%). Dick’s also topped RetailMeNot’s November list of retailers for which consumers hope to obtain coupons.
Flowers/gifts/greetings sites saw a 23% gain, reaching nearly 39.8 million unique visitors in December. The AmericanGreetings Property led the category with 13.6 million visitors (up 18%), followed by Gifts.com with 6.8 million (up 49%), Hallmark with 5.6 million (up 46%) and 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. with 2.9 million (up 48%).
Tax Sites Grow as Season Looms
Tax sites ranked as the top-gaining category during the month with nearly 6.4 million visitors, up 54% from November, as Americans began early preparation for tax season.
Americans Rely on Shipping and e-Card Sites for Holiday To-Dos
Traffic to shipping sites spiked in December and reached an all-time 2009 visitation high as Americans rushed to ensure delivery of their gift purchases in time for the holidays. The category attracted 36.6 million visitors during the month, representing a 33% increase in traffic. UPS Sites led the category with 19.7 million visitors (up 51%), followed by The US Post Office’s site, USPS.com, with 15.9 million (up 40%) and FedEx with 12.6 million (up 36%).
e-Card Sites were a popular way to send holiday cheer in December, with the category growing 29 percent to 31.7 million visitors. Among the most visited were Evite.com with nearly 8 million visitors (up 16%), AG interactive with 6.7 million (up 46%), MyFunCards.com with 5.7 million, and 123Greetings.com with 4.3 million (up 55%).
About the rankings: comScore will be excluding its of top 50 properties rankings and top 50 ad-focus rankings until May 2010 when its hybrid transition period (change in methodol0gy) concludes.
