High street winning visitors online
Thursday, 07, Aug 2008 11:51
High street retailers are winning more customers online than companies that only exist on the web, new research shows.
A study published by Hitwise reveals the 100 biggest online high street retailers, including Argos and Next, enjoyed almost 20 per cent more traffic than the 100 largest web-only companies, including Amazon and Play.com.
High street retailers first pulled ahead online in December 2006 but fell behind during the following year, the research notes.
It adds: "However, when the high street overtook again last Christmas, the gap was even greater than before and during 2008 the online only retailers have only managed to edge ahead during the quiet month of February."
Earlier this month, the research firm released analysis which shows Facebook has overtaken e-Bay and is now the third most-visited website in the UK.
The study showed Google was the most popular, followed by Hotmail, noting Facebook is closing in on the email provider's visitor numbers.