In the first week of December, French cyber shopping activity was up 45 percent versus the eight week pre season base period (Sep 3 - Oct 28), reaching its highest point of the season. In the U.K., cyber shopping visits were up 38 percent compared to the base, following steady growth throughout November. German cyber shopping is beginning to gain momentum after a slow start. Retail site visits for the first week of December by Germans were up eight percent compared to the base period - its highest point this Christmas shopping season.
Bob Ivins, EVP of European Markets at comScore, commented: "The first week of December has traditionally been a busy week for European Christmas shopping and this year is no exception. While the season has been developing well in the U.K. and France, the reported lack of consumer confidence in Germany has caused cyber shoppers in that country to get off to a slow start this year. Specifically, a relatively steady November in the context of more widespread economic uncertainty was followed by an eight percent cyber shopping increase in the first week of December, and we should now see online shopping activity in Germany increase further in the last two weeks leading up to Christmas."
Fastest Growing Online Retailers in the U.K. for November
The largest increases in online retail traffic were seen at two toys and games sites. Multi-channel computer gaming specialist Game.co.uk was the fastest growing retail property, up 52 percent to 3.5 million unique visitors. It was joined by Toysrus Sites, a multi-channel toy retailer selling computer games and consoles as well as more traditional toys, which grew 47 percent to 3.4 million.
John Lewis Partnership was the third fastest growing retail property in the U.K. in November, up 39 percent to 3.4 million unique visitors. Growth was largely driven by its flagship department store, JohnLewis.com, but boosted further by increased traffic to its supermarket chain, Waitrose, which is a popular destination for Christmas goods amongst U.K. consumers. The top five was rounded out by two popular high-street brands, Woolworths Group plc, which was up 37 percent to just under four million unique visitors, and Boots Plc, up 31 percent to 3.7.
Fastest Growing Online Retailers in France for November
In France, the fastest growing retail property was Arcandor AG, up 42 percent to 2.4 million unique visitors. Growth was driven by increased traffic to pure play online clothing specialist, Quelle.fr. It was joined by another online pure play retailer, Amazon Sites, which was the largest of the five fastest growing retail properties. The property grew 16 percent in November to 6.1 million unique visitors.
Following these properties, the biggest increases in online retail traffic were seen in the electronic goods sector. Sony Online was the second fastest growing retail property in November, up 40 percent to 1.8 million unique visitors. Groupe Casino's twelve percent growth to 5.2 million unique visitors was largely driven by increased traffic to CDiscount.com, an online pure play retailer specializing in entertainment products such as DVDs, CDs and gaming consoles. Apple Inc., another online pure play retailer, was also up eleven percent to 4.8 million unique visitors.
Fastest Growing Online Retailers in Germany for November
German online retailers saw modest growth in a variety of sectors in November. Arcandor AG, owner of multi-channel catalogue specialist Karstadt.de, was the fastest growing property, up 19 percent to 13.7 million unique visitors. Tengelmann was up 13 percent to 2 million unique visitors, driven largely by increased traffic to another multi-channel catalogue specialist site Plus.de. Price comparison property, Ciao Sites, grew 12 percent to reach 5.9 million unique visitors.
As was the case in the U.K. and France, electronic goods retailers also enjoyed increased online traffic in November. Sony Online grew 12 percent to 2 million unique visitors while METRO Group, owner of MedaiMarkt.de, an online pure play retailer specializing in entertainment products such as DVDs, CDs and gaming consoles, also grew 12 percent to 3.4 million.
