Germans Shop Later Online; Found to Spend Three Times More Than the French and Nearly 1.5 Times More Than the U.K. This Holiday Season

LONDON, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today released its final report on European online holiday shopping activity in the U.K., France and Germany. According to the analysis, of the three countries studied, Germans spent the most online during the holiday period -- an estimated 5.4 billion EUR from 30 October -- 31 December, 2006. U.K. consumers spent an estimated 4.0 billion EUR online during the same period, and the French spent an estimated 1.9 billion EUR. This compares to an estimated 18.8 billion EUR ($24.6 billion) spent in the U.S. during the holiday shopping period (1 November to 31 December). (Note: Online spending estimates are based on estimated purchases made at sites within comScore's retail category and exclude travel and auction sites.)

Germany's most active shopping week occurred two weeks before Christmas (11-17 December -- Week 7 of the holiday shopping season), when visits to secure Web pages (where purchases can be completed) were up 78 percent versus the pre-holiday shopping period from 28 August -- 29 October. The most active shopping week in both the U.K. and France was three weeks before Christmas (4-10 December -- Week 6 of the holiday shopping season), with visits to secure Web pages up 69 percent in the U.K. and 90 percent in France versus the pre-holiday shopping period.

"European online retailers appear to have done well this holiday season. High broadband penetration, familiarity with browsing and buying online, and confidence in the channel have all combined to make this a record Christmas for most online retailers in Europe -- and to highlight the increasing importance of the online channel for consumers and retailers," said Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe. "Almost across the board, activity on the secure buying pages of online retail sites during the holidays rose 50 percent above the average level of activity prior to the holidays, indicating that European online retailers had a very merry Christmas."

  TABLE 1

  European Holiday Cyber Shopping Index*
  Visits to Secure Sections of Online Retailing Sites
  U.K., France and Germany
  Source: comScore World Metrix
                                      U.K.           France       Germany
  Holiday Season Shopping Periods
  Pre-Holiday Base Period Index       100             100           100
  Week 1 (10/30-11/5)                 137             153           157
  Week 2 (11/6-11/12)                 146             162           153
  Week 3 (11/13-11/19)                151             165           156
  Week 4 (11/20-11/26)                165             179           163
  Week 5 (11/27-12/3)                 169             179           172
  Week 6 (12/4-12/10)                 169             190           176
  Week 7 (12/11-12/17)                164             188           178
  Week 8 (12/18-12/24)                118             164           150
  Week 9 (12/25-12/31)                 98             148           114

  * Defined as the change in number of visits to secure sections of retail
    sites compared to the pre-holiday base period, which is the average of
    weekly visits to secure sections of online retail sites from 28 August
    -- 29 October.  An index of 165 should be read as, "65 percent more
    visits to secure sections of retail sites took place, compared to the
    average (100) during the pre-holiday period."

  French Holiday Review

Throughout the entire holiday period Groupe PPR, CDiscount.com, and Amazon Sites captured nearly half of all cyber shopping activity in France. Specifically, Groupe PPR captured 27 percent of cyber shopping visits in France while CDiscount.com captured 13 percent and Amazon Sites captured 8 percent. CDiscount.com, in particular, saw a remarkable increase in market share versus the pre-holiday shopping period-more than doubling its pre-holiday market share of 8 percent to 18 percent at its peak during Week 8 of the holiday shopping season and increasing 124 percent overall versus the September-October baseline period.

  TABLE 2

  Top French Retail Sites by Share of Cyber Shopping Visits from French
  Users*
  Holiday Period 2006: 30 October -- 31 December
  Total France -- Home and Work Locations, Visitors Age 15+**
  Source: comScore World Metrix

                             French Avg. Share of    French Cyber Shopping
                            Cyber Shopping Visits   Index during holiday
                          30 October -- 31 December      period versus
                                                    pre-holiday base of 100

  Groupe PPR                         27%                      153
  CDISCOUNT.COM                      13%                      224
  Amazon Sites                        8%                      162
  Apple Computer, Inc.                7%                      116
  3 Suisses                           6%                      146
  ALAPAGE.COM                         4%                      185
  QUELLE.FR                           3%                      115
  Yves Rocher                         2%                      144
  Hewlett Packard                     2%                      130
  VirginMega.FR                       1%                      134

    * Percentage of total shopping visits to secure sections of retail sites
   ** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or
      access from mobile phones or PDAs
  *** Not including eBay

  U.K. Holiday Review

Cyber shopping visits in the U.K. were led by Argos, which captured the highest share in the category (12 percent). Amazon Sites followed with 10 percent of all cyber-shopping visits during the holiday period, and Tesco Stores captured 6 percent. Play.com emerged as a holiday-season leader by virtue of the significant market-share increase it earned (7 percent) during Week 7 of the holiday shopping season versus its pre-holiday market share average of 4 percent, increasing 112 percent overall versus the pre-holiday period.

  TABLE 3

  Top U.K. Retail Sites by Share of Cyber Shopping Visits from U.K. Users*
  Holiday Period 2006: 30 October -- 31 December
  Total U.K. -- Home and Work Locations, Visitors Age 15+**
  Source: comScore World Metrix

                               U.K. Avg. Share of        U.K. Cyber Shopping
                             Cyber Shopping Visits      Index during holiday
                           30 October -- 31 December        period versus
                                                     pre-holiday base of 100

  Argos                                 12%                   205
  Amazon Sites                          10%                   167
  Tesco Stores                           6%                   138
  Littlewoods Shop Direct Group          6%                   119
  Apple Computer, Inc.                   5%                   114
  Play.com Sites                         5%                   212
  NEXT Group                             4%                   123
  Ticketmaster                           3%                   117
  The Carphone Warehouse Group           2%                   117
  Groupe PPR                             2%                   162

    * Percentage of total shopping visit to secure sections of retail sites
   ** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or
      access from mobile phones or PDAs
  *** Not including eBay

  Germany Holiday Review

The German cyber-shopping category was led by Amazon Sites, which accounted for 16 percent of total German cyber shopping visits, followed by Otto Gruppe, which accounted for 10 percent, and O2Online.de, which captured 6 percent. Notably, Neckermann.de more than doubled its pre-holiday shopping share of 3 percent by garnering 8 percent of all cyber shopping visits during Week 6 and increasing 110 percent overall versus the pre-holiday period.

  TABLE 4

  Top German Retail Sites by Share of Cyber Shopping Visits from German
  Users*
  Holiday Period 2006: 30 October -- 31 December
  Total Germany -- Home and Work Locations, Visitors Age 15+**
  Source: comScore World Metrix

                             German Avg. Share of      German Cyber Shopping
                             Cyber Shopping Visits      Index during holiday
                           30 October -- 31 December        period versus
                                                     pre-holiday base of 100

  Amazon Sites                        16%                      147
  Otto Gruppe                         10%                      131
  O2ONLINE.DE                          6%                      126
  QUELLE.DE                            6%                      128
  Apple Computer, Inc.                 5%                      100
  NECKERMANN.DE                        5%                      210
  T-MOBILE.DE                          3%                      141
  Medion Shop                          2%                      155
  Tchibo                               2%                      153
  WELTBILD.DE                          2%                      188

   *  Percentage of total shopping visits to secure sections of retail sites
  **  Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or
      access from mobile phones or PDAs
  *** Not including eBay


  About comScore World Metrix

comScore World Metrix is the first service to continuously measure and report online behavior on a world-wide basis, providing visitation metrics and demographic characteristics for Web site audiences around the world. With active representation of countries that comprise the vast majority of the global Internet population, World Metrix provides its clients with worldwide Internet population estimates and harmonized online performance metrics based on a consistent methodology across all countries. More than 100 clients subscribe to comScore's World Metrix service, including 8 of the top 10 interactive advertising agencies.

About comScore Networks

comScore Networks is a global leader in measuring the digital age. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/.