The latest Hot shops list, compiled by the IMRG and Hitwwise, reveals the top 50 online retailers in the Uk in the run up to Chistmas. The big news is the dramatic rise of Ticketmaster UK which broke into the top 10 for the first time in Hot Shops history.
The fast movers for the quarter were Ticketmaster and GAME thanks to the announcement of the Take That 2011 tour and the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Boots was also among the fast movers (up 15 places) and showed strong year-on-year growth for the second consecutive quarter.
All of the supermarket brands increased their rankings within the list with Sainsbury’s (up 15 places) and ASDA Direct (up 13 places) leading the way.
Although the travel brands all declined this quarter since the bumper summer season there was positive growth year-on-year for Thomas Cook (up 6 places) and British Airways (up four places).
HP, River Island and Boots had the best year-on-year improvements compared to the same quarter in 2009.
Cineworld Cinemas was also seven places ahead of where it was last year,despite dropping nine places since the last quarter.
The big news of this quarter’s Hot Shops list is the dramatic rise of Ticketmaster UK which broke into the top 10 for the first time in Hot Shops history. The highest position Ticketmaster has previously achieved was 15 back in May 2006.
Ticketmaster saw exceptional demand in October for Take That tickets as the band announced their 2011 tour along with the much anticipated reunion with Robbie Williams.
The other fast mover of the quarter was GAME which jumped 18 places to number 30 in the Hot Shops list.
There have been a number of big video game releases this quarter which GAME has capitalised on in order to drive traffic to its web site.
In particular, Call of Duty: Black Ops helped GAME climb the rankings, along with other releases including Fallout: New Vegas and Football Manager 2011.
The supermarket brands had a strong quarter with all of the major brands featured in the list increasing their rank. Sainsbury’s was the fastest moving supermarket, up 15 places from last quarter and ASDA Direct moved up 13 places. Tesco improved on last quarter by two places to take the company into fourth spot overall.
This quarter saw the return of three retailers to the Hot Shops list with PC World, the Orange Shop and Toys R US all making the top 50. In the run up to Christmas it was little surprise to see Toys R US come back.
IMRG’s CEO, James Roper, comments: “A reunion tour on the scale of Take That has provided a real boost for Ticketmaster, propelling them into the top 10 for the first time. GAME have also seen a large rise in the charts due to the release of the next instalment in the hugely successful Call of Duty series and Microsoft’s Kinect technology, which is a very exciting development for gamers. The improved year-on-year performance of Cineworld Cinemas shows the strength of that market at the moment, with a flurry of 80s remakes and 3D animation features pulling in the crowds.”
Robin Goad, Director of Research at Experian Hitwise comments: “Ticketmaster has had a phenomenal quarter off the back of the announced Take That tour. On the day that Take That tickets went on sale Ticketmaster was the 13th most visited web site in the UK and visits to the site increased nearly five-fold.
“As Christmas approaches we’d expect to see certain retail sites jump in the rankings for the next Hot Shops list including electronics companies, mobile providers and toy retailers. We’re starting to see some of that already with both Toys R Us and the Orange Shop returning to the top 50.”
Methodology
The IMRG-Experian Hitwise Hot Shops List of the top 50 UK e-retailers* is the key indicator of online merchant performance. The List is published quarterly and tracks popularity, as indicated by visits, of those selling goods and services within the IMRG Capgemini Index Classification**. This List is based on October 2010 data. The IMRG-Experian Hitwise Hot Shops List excludes eBay and price comparison / aggregator web sites such as Kelkoo and Froogle.
** IMRG Capgemini Index Classification: Beer / wine / spirits; Books; CDs / tapes / records; Clothing / footwear / accessories; Computer hardware / peripherals / consumables; Consumer electronics; Digital downloads (e.g. music, software); Flowers; Food, beverages and household supplies; Furniture; Garden / DIY; Health and beauty; Home appliances (e.g. washing machines); Household goods (e.g. kitchenware, bedding); Jewellery / watches; Software; Sporting goods; Tickets (e.g. cinema, theatre, events); Toys; Travel (e.g. flights, holidays, hotels, car hire); Video games; Videos / DVDs
Source: www.imrg.org
www.hitwise.com
