Experian identifies Hong Kong internet user trends in the run up to Valentine's Day

Experian identifies Hong Kong internet user trends in the run up to Valentine’s Day

Agnes B. Fleuriste ranks number one in the top 10 flowers and gifts websites, while Hallmark drops four places 

Hong Kong, 17 February 2011 – Experian Hitwise, a leading online competitive intelligence service, today revealed insights from search and traffic data generated by Hong Kong Internet users ahead of Valentines’ Day.

One of the most significant insights is the change that occurred in the rankings of the most popular websites for purchasing gifts and flowers in 2011 compared to 2010. Agnes B. Fleuriste was the most popular website with 6.60% share of all visits to the Gifts & Flowers category (week ending 12the February 2011), climbing a massive seven places, knocking Hallmark off the number one spot it claimed in 2010. The retailer was closely followed by Sanrio, home to Hello Kitty gifts, with 6.18% share of all visits and then by 001 May Flowers, which moved up four places to take the third spot (Figure 1).

Hallmark experienced the most significant drop in traffic, with share of visits falling to 4.86%. ShopThruPost and DaySpring Cards also saw drops in the traffic to their websites.

Figure 1 – Share of visits to most popular websites in the Shopping and Classifieds – Flowers and Gifts week ending 12 February 2011, compared with 13 February 2010 (Source: Experian Hitwise)

New entries into the top 10 flowers and gifts websites included Hong Kong Flower Shop Limited, ranking number seven and Kadang, a Mainland Chinese online gift retailer, at number eight with 2.06% and 2.00% share of visits (Figure 1).

Flowers were not the only popular gift given by Hong Kongers this year. Findings based on search data also revealed an inclination by Hong Kong Internet users towards giving chocolates as a gift on the most romantic day of the year. The search term ‘chocolates’ saw a steady increase in the number of search clicks in the two weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day (Figure 2). 

Figure 2 – Share of search clicks for the search term ‘chocolates’ (Source: Experian Hitwise Hong Kong)

“Local web traffic and search patterns are a reflection of online consumer behaviour in Hong Kong. With online being a significant channel for both retailers and consumers, the data provides key insights to help retailers create effective and forward-looking go-to-market strategies that attract their target audience online,” said Graeme Beardsell, Managing Director for South Asia, Experian. “These insights provide intelligent and actionable data required by marketers to improve audience engagement in the digital media space, and can come in very useful around key gift giving periods like Valentines’ Day.”

For intimate apparel and accessories, Hong Kong Internet users visited popular American retailer, Victoria’s Secret, which accounted for 18.42% share of visits (week ending 12th February), making it the top visited website leading up to Valentine’s Day weekend. Other interesting online retailer sites that also took top spots in the charts included My 1 Dy (15.66%) and Moonbasa (10.61%), Mainland Chinese intimate and apparel retailers, achieving second and third positions (Figure 3).

Figure 3 – Share of Visits to Most Popular Websites in Shopping and Classifieds – Intimate Apparel and Accessories (Source: Experian Hitwise Hong Kong)

Hong Kongers searching for that special someone to share Valentine’s Day with looked mostly to ECFriend.com, which held top position as the most popular website with 11.42% share of visits, followed by Adult FriendFinder.com and Jia Yuan with 8.57% and 6.50%, respectively week ending 12th February (Figure 4).

 
Figure 4 – Share of Visits to Most Popular Websites in Lifestyle – Dating (Source: Experian Hitwise Hong Kong)

“Experian Hitwise helps businesses convert data into insight.  Delving into the search patterns of over 1.8 million Hong Kong Internet users, enables marketers to identify timely opportunities that can be integrated with effective marketing campaigns,” said Graeme Beardsell. “Experian Hitwise can also be further combined with other Experian solutions like Experian QAS and Experian CheetahMail for data cleansing and email marketing, to achieve maximum ROI on their end-to-end marketing investments.”

NOTES:

Definitions:

A 'search click' is the website that serves the next page impression after the search results.

Market share of websites and ranking is typically based on share of visits. A visit is defined by a series of one or more page requests by a visitor without 30 consecutive minutes of inactivity.

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 90 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision-making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2010 was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com .

For more information on Experian Asia Pacific, visit http://www.experian.com.hk

Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

About Hitwise

Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Only Experian Hitwise provides its 1,500 clients around the world with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive Web sites and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers.

Since 1997, Experian Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement. Through relationships with Internet service providers around the world, Experian Hitwise uses its patented methodology to anonymously capture the online usage, search and conversion behaviour of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into an easy-to-use, Web-based service designed to help marketers better plan, implement and report on a range of online marketing programs.

Experian Hitwise,  operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. More information about Hitwise is available at http://www.hitwise.com/hk .

For up-to-date analysis of online trends, visit the Hitwise Intelligence – Analyst Weblogs at http://weblogs.hitwise.com