A new study by comScore found that three in five Australians online visited a retail site in December 2009, as traffic to the category reached its highest volume of the year with more than eight million visitors during the month, representing 3% increase from same period an year ago.
According to the study, the Apple.com Worldwide Sites was the most visited retail site in Australia, with 3.95 million visitors, an increase of 63%, compared to 1.87 million visitors in December 2008. Amazon Sites was the second most visited retail destination with 2.54 million visitors, up 28% from 1.99 million, while Coles Group that include Kmart.com.au, Target.com.au and Coles.com.au among others, ranked third with 1.3 million visitors, followed by Woolworths with 1.21 million and Shopping.com with 1.03 million visitors.
In retail subcategories, the computer hardware segment was the most-visited in Decmeber 2009 with 3.93 million visitors led by traffic to Apple sites. Comparison shopping sites followed with 2.7 million visitors, up 16% from 2.3 million, led by Shopping.com Sites in visitation, with growth experienced at both GetPrice.com.au and MyShopping.com.au.
Computer software segment is visited by 1.6 million visitors, up 46% from 1.1 million, apparel and department stores was visited by 1.5 million and 1.41 million visitors, respectively.
Will Hodgman, executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region at comScore, said: December continues to be the heaviest month for visitation to retail sites as the holiday shopping season reaches its pinnacle. The online channel is an increasingly important component of retailers’ holiday strategies with a growing number of consumers turning to the web for comparison shopping and purchasing convenience.
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