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Holiday Shoppers Flock to Online Sales Circulars; Sundays and Thanksgiving Day
the Most Popular Shopping Days According to ShopLocal Data
CHICAGO, Jan. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- ShopLocal, the leading provider of Web-to-
store and e-commerce marketing solutions for retailers, released final results
from the 2005 holiday shopping season today. The increased popularity of
comparison shopping Web sites was evident to ShopLocal.com which, from
November 24 to December 24, surged to more than 60 percent above comparable
levels from a year-ago. And visitors spent more time online this year, with
average time spent on ShopLocal.com growing by six percent versus 2004 as
consumers spent an average of five full minutes online per visit.
In addition to operating ShopLocal.com, through its SmartCircular program
ShopLocal creates and hosts online circulars for companies such as Target,
Best Buy, Staples, and dozens of other leading retailers to post on their own
consumer Web sites.
An analysis of the top 10 retailers enrolled in ShopLocals SmartCircular
program indicated a 37 percent increase in visitor traffic to retailers
online circulars. This trend underscores consumers increasing use of the Web
as a tool for multi-channel shopping and complements local sales information
delivered via traditional media.
Is Thanksgiving Day the Real "Cyber Monday"?
While many retailers did experience a spike in online shopping on "Cyber
Monday," ShopLocal.com experienced its highest day of growth on Thanksgiving
Day, with a 370 percent increase over ShopLocal.coms inaugural 2004 holiday
shopping season. The online circular pages of ShopLocals retailer clients
also had their biggest day on Thanksgiving Day, receiving more than 2.3
million total visits on the holiday.
Sundays were popular days for scanning retailers online circulars,
according to ShopLocal data. After the Thanksgiving holiday, the three
biggest traffic increases for ShopLocals SmartCircular clients took place on
Sunday December 4, Sunday, December 11, and Sunday, December 18.
"Old habits dont die, they move online," says Brian Hand, ShopLocal
founder and CEO. "Consumers are accustomed to searching through the print
circulars in their Sunday paper and on holidays like Thanksgiving Day, the
biggest sale circular day of the year. But now, more and more shoppers are
also getting in front of the computer screen to scan for whats on sale at
local stores."
This season more than ever, smart buyers and holiday-hardened shoppers
turned to the Web to research what and where to buy gifts. While some
consumers chose to visit their favorite retailer sites directly, others chose
to take advantage of shopping comparison sites for research and e-commerce
purchases. According to comScore Networks, overall online retail spending is
projected to increase 25 percent this November and December over last year.
Total 2005 spending is expected to reach $82.3 billion, up 24 percent from
$66.5 billion in 2004.
With bargains from 400 national retailers and 20,000 local small
businesses that total 3 million products, ShopLocal.com helped millions of
consumers research everything from hard-to-find toys to obscure electronics
during the 2005 holiday season.
About ShopLocal
ShopLocal, LLC is the leading Web shopping company for consumers and
retailers. With ShopLocal.com and The ShopLocal Network -- made up of more
than 200 affiliate media, search, and shopping sites -- consumers have access
to the only place on the Web with information on products from local stores
side-by-side with e-commerce options. With ShopLocals SmartCircular and Smart
Catalog services, retailers can distribute sales and promotional content
through The ShopLocal Network as well as their own Web sites.
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