U.K. and Germany See Highest Gains Yet in Pre-Christmas Cyber Shopping, According to Comscore Networks

London, U.K., 12 December, 2006 – Comscore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today released an update on European online holiday shopping activity in the U.K., France and Germany. Comscore’s analysis revealed that the week ending 3 December was the most active cyber shopping week to date in both the U.K. and Germany, with visits to secure Web pages up 69 and 72 percent, respectively, versus the pre-holiday shopping period from 28 August – 29 October. During this week, France saw a 79-percent increase versus the pre-holiday shopping period, which was consistent with the previous week’s increase.

“We’re seeing continued strength in online shopping as people go online to browse and buy in time for Christmas,” said Bob Ivins, managing director of Comscore Europe.

TABLE 1

*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

In keeping with the previous week’s trend, Groupe PPR, CDISCOUNT.com, and Amazon Sites captured nearly half of all cyber shopping activity during the week ending 3 December. During this week, Groupe PPR captured 27 percent of cyber shopping visits in France while CDISCOUNT.com captured 12 percent and Amazon Sites captured 9 percent.

TABLE 2

*Percentage of total weekly 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

During the week ending 3 December, Cyber shopping visits in the U.K. were again led by Argos, which captured the highest share in the category (12 percent). Amazon Sites followed with 11 percent of all cyber shopping visits, and Tesco Stores captured 6 percent.

TABLE 3

*Percentage of total weekly 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

Germany Holiday Review

German cyber shopping activity spiked in the most recent week (up 72 percent compared to the pre-holiday shopping period). The category was led during the week ending 3 December by Amazon Sites, which accounted for 15 percent of total German cyber shopping visits, followed by Otto Gruppe, which accounted for 10 percent, and O2Online.de, which captured 6 percent.

TABLE 4

*Percentage of total weekly 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 behaviour 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 behaviour, including online and offline purchasing. Comscore panellists 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 behaviour 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, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com