European Online Retailers See Holiday Traffic Boost

U.K. and France See Major Gains in Online Retail Traffic in November, With Slower Growth in Germany

LONDON, U.K., December 09, 2009 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on visitation to online retail sites in the U.K., France and Germany during the Christmas shopping season.

The study analyzed the total number of visits to online retail sites during November against a pre-season base period average to understand how the onset of the Christmas shopping season has affected online consumer habits when measured against a typical shopping week.

A Strong Start to the Christmas Shopping Season in November

Offering signs of tempered optimism that the consumer economy might be beginning to rebound after a tumultuous year, the European online Christmas shopping season got off to a solid start this year in the U.K., France and Germany. U.K. visits to retail sites were up 18-percent during the first week of November compared to a typical week during the prior two months, and increased even further throughout the month to enjoy a 41-percent growth rate during the week ending November 29. France also showed solid gains, culminating in the same 41-percent growth rate during the last week of November, while Germany showed slightly slower visitation growth, more comparable to that seen across the pond in the U.S..

“That we’re seeing such strong growth in visitation to retail sites in three of Europe’s leading countries prior to the December pre-Christmas rush is, hopefully, a positive sign for the overall European economy,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “Right now the U.K. and France appear to be demonstrating the highest rate of traffic growth to retail sites, outperforming the U.S. by a considerable margin. While German growth has been slightly slower, the heavy part of the country’s online shopping season should begin in earnest during the first week of December.”

Top 5 U.K. Retail Properties

Across the month of November, average weekly visits to online retail sites grew 35 percent in the U.K. compared to the typical shopping week from the prior two months. Of the top 5 online retailers as ranked by average weekly visits across the month of November, Play.com Sites experienced the largest growth on the base period with a 62-percent gain, closely followed by the Home retail group, owner of Argos and Homebase (up 61 percent) and Tesco Stores (up 50 percent).

Top 5 French Retail Properties

Visits to online retail sites in France were up 36 percent during the first week of the month and remained steady throughout November. Of the top 5 online retailers, Groupe PriceMinister experienced the fastest rate of growth at 188 percent, followed by Amazon sites and Cdiscount.com, both with 40-percent gains respectively.

Top 5 German Retail Properties

In Germany, visits to online retail sites got off to a slightly slower start than in France and the U.K., but still showed a healthy 17 percent average weekly growth versus the typical shopping week. Amazon Sites was the fastest growing retail site during November – up 46 percent on the base period average – followed by neckermann Gruppe (up 18 percent).

Source: comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR)