In Australia, Online Retail Sites See Traffic Surge in December

SYDNEY, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on traffic to top Retail sites in Australia during the 2009 holiday season. The study found that three out of five Australians online visited a Retail site in December, as traffic to the category reached its highest volume of the year with more than 8 million visitors during the month.

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"December continues to be the heaviest month for visitation to retail sites as the holiday shopping season reaches its pinnacle," said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. "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."

Holiday Shopping Fuels Traffic Growth at Largest Online Retailers

More than 8 million Australians visited a Retail site in December 2009, representing a 3-percent increase versus year ago. The category was led by Apple.com Worldwide Sites with more than 3 million visitors, a 63-percent increase, fueled by continued growth at the Apple Store site which was visited by more than 1 million Australians. Amazon Sites followed as the second most visited retail destination with 2.5 million visitors, up 28 percent from the previous year.  Coles Group Ltd., which includes Kmart.com.au, Target.com.au and Coles.com.au among others, ranked third with 1.3 million visitors (up 30 percent), followed by Woolworths Limited with 1.2 million visitors (up 48 percent).

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Top 10 Retail Subcategories

Computer Hardware ranked as the most-visited Retail subcategory in December with nearly 4 million visitors led by traffic to Apple sites. Comparison Shopping sites followed with 2.7 million visitors, up 16 percent from the previous year, as Web users sought product information and holiday deals. Shopping.com Sites led the Comparison Shopping category in visitation, with significant growth experienced at both GetPrice.com.au and MyShopping.com.au. Other subcategories to see substantial increases in visitation included Computer Software (up 46 percent), Apparel (up 41 percent), Department Stores (up 30 percent) and Consumer Electronics (up 28 percent).

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

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SOURCE comScore, Inc.