Valentine’s Day down
Online shopping for Valentine’s gifts started two weeks ago, with visits to flowers and gifts sites increasing 25% in the past two weeks, according to competitive intelligence service Hitwise. However, year-on-year, visits to the flowers and gifts category is down 19%, indicating that trading may not be as strong this year for flower retailers.
Tesco Flowers’ market share of UK internet visits was down 63% year-on-year last week, as were nine of the top ten flowers and gifts websites. The only top ten website in the category to enjoy a year-on-year increase was relative newcomer Moonpig Cards, a site offering customised greeting cards.
Moonpig became the number 3 most visited flowers and gifts website last week, up from number 31 the same week in 2006. The site’s growth has been driven by increased brand awareness, with a five fold increase in the share of UK internet searches for “moonpig†year-on-year last week, as well as through online marketing. The website is engaging in a paid search marketing campaign to attract visits, with 45% of the site’s search traffic coming from paid listings in the past four weeks. Moonpig was the number 3 website receiving visits from searches for “valentine cards†and “valentines cards†and was the number 5 website receiving visits from searches for “valentineâ€.
“Moonpig’s rise reveals how clever online marketing can grow a site from relative obscurity to a position where it is competing with established players,†said Heather Hopkins, VP of Research for Hitwise UK. “Moonpig has offered discounts and vouchers and has gained exposure in blogs and forums across the web. Coupled with paid search engine marketing, the website has managed to secure a position as the #3 Flowers and Gifts website in the week before Valentine’s Day.â€
from: InternetRetailing.net
February 15th 2007
