IBG in 2005

Seasonality of online retail to continue in 2006

In 2006, Hitwise expects the online retail sector to follow a similar seasonal pattern to previous years. Visits will spike in the week after Christmas for the January sales and again in February for Valentine’s day (see chart below). In the Spring, we will see visits rise again as UK consumers shop for Mother’s Day gifts and spring home improvement projects.

Last Minute Rush

Christmas 2005 bore witness to an interesting trend for online Christmas shopping with UK shoppers appearing to leave more of their shopping to the last minute. While visits to retail websites peaked the week ending 4th December 2004, visits peaked the following week this year – the week ending 10th December 2005 – which saw the sector reach its highest peak to date.