Cyber Shopping in U.K., France and Germany Accelerates as Christmas Approaches

France Experiences Most Significant Gains Versus Pre-Holiday Period; Europeans Loyal to Local Sites, Amazon and Apple

London, U.K., 5 December, 2006 – Comscore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today released the first in a series of European holiday season shopping analyses, which examine cyber shopping activity (defined as visits to secure Web pages) at the top U.K., France and German retail sites during the holiday season, beginning October 30. The analysis revealed that French retail sites have experienced the largest gains in the first three weeks of the season (versus the pre-holiday shopping period from 28 August – 29 October), capped off by a 79-percent gain in cyber shopping traffic during the most recent week (ending 26 November) versus the pre-holiday average. Retail sites in the U.K. saw a 65-percent increase, and German sites experienced a 63-percent rise in the most recent week compared to pre-holiday levels (See Table 1). Amazon and Apple Computer, consistently appear in each country’s list of top sites, demonstrating the global appeal of these two brands.

“While cyber shopping visits rose most quickly in Germany during the first week of the holiday shopping season, online shoppers in France have since become more active,” 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.

“These gains show that consumers armed with high-speed access and positive online retail experiences are increasingly comfortable shopping online,” commented Ivins. “As online spending continues to grow and account for a larger percentage of total consumer spending, the growth in online shopping could be the difference between a good Christmas and a great Christmas for many online retailers.”

French Holiday Review

In France, three retail sites accounted for nearly half of all cyber shopping activity during the week ending 26 November. During this week, Groupe PPR (owner of Fnac.com and La Redoute) captured 22 percent of cyber shopping visits in France. Online super store, CDISCOUNT.com, captured 15 percent to of cyber shopping visits, and 10 percent of all cyber shopping visits generated by French Internet users went to Amazon Sites.

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

Cyber shopping visits in the U.K. were led during the week ending 26 November by online super stores, including GUS (owner of Argus and Burberry), which captured the highest share in the category (11 percent). Amazon Sites followed with 10 percent of all cyber shopping visits, and Tesco Stores captured 7 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 63 percent compared to the pre-holiday shopping period). The category was led during the week ending 26 November by Web.DE Shopping, which accounted for 16 percent of total German cyber shopping visits, followed by Amazon Sites, which accounted for 12 percent, and Otto Gruppe, which captured 9 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