Security services firm ZScaler has recently released its report “State of the Web – A View from the End User’s Perspective.” The Zscaler report covers the fourth quarter of 2009, which as we all know is when most retail purchases are made. According to Zscaler, as a security services company they are in a unique position to observe millions of internet users across the globe.
Looking at the top 10 shopping sites, ShopLocal.com was the second most popular shopping website next to Amazon.com! Not surprising, Amazon.com being a large online retailer claimed 3.63% of the total retail traffic. In a close second is ShopLocal.com with 2.90% of the total retail traffic.
Looking at the numbers observed by Zscaler, it’s no wonder that ShopLocal.com recently won two Website of the Year awards for Best Price Comparison Website and Most Popular Shopping Site.
They say actions speak louder than words and shoppers have spoken — they prefer to shop online using ShopLocal.com.
Download the free report from Zscaler here.
If you’re looking for additional information, Sebastian Rupley has more info about the report on GigaOM.
ShopLocal CEO, Vikram Sharma, was recently featured as part of a CBS Chicago segment about retail holiday sales. A story for all of the holiday shopping procrastinators out there. CBS2 reporter, Dorothy Tucker takes a look at 2009’s holiday shopping season and retailer discounts.
Click here to watch the CBS video.
“Across the board, the deals are not gonna be that strong,” said Vikram Sharma, CEO of Shoplocal.com, a website that features local store ads and analyzes shopping trends.
Sharma says the deals won’t be as deep this year because retailers don’t have as much merchandise to sell.
“Inventories are much tighter because they’ve been able to plan for a leaner shopping season,” Sharma said. “So they’re offering deals, but they’re 20, 30, 40 percent deals.”
Sharma says instead of waiting until a few days before Christmas to promote deep discounts, this year, stores like Sears took a different approach by offering one-day deals.
Tucker’s advice “if you see something… grab it. The chances of it being cheaper on Christmas Eve are slim. In fact, with less stock on the shelves, if you wait, that perfect gift could be gone.”
You can find the full website article (with video) here.
SHOPLOCAL.COM WINS TWO WEBSITE OF THE YEAR AWARDS: BEST AND MOST POPULAR SHOPPING COMPARISON SITE
Chicago, IL (December 21, 2009) — ShopLocal™, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) and the leader in multi-channel marketing services, has won two Website of the Year awards for its shopping and price comparison website, ShopLocal.com.
The Website of the Year awards (http://www.websiteoftheyear.us) have been organized by global online market research company MetrixLab since 2004, and they are the largest annual people’s choice website honors. Winners in other categories included Facebook, YouTube, PayPal and MapQuest.
ShopLocal.com provides consumers with fresh weekly store deals from the nation’s largest retailers including Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, CVS and Sears.The website beat out a number of major competitors to win in the shopping comparison website category. ShopLocal.com took home both the Best Website of the Year – provided to the website with the highest average score on content, user experience and design – and Most Popular Website, given to the website with the highest number of votes.
“We’re honored to be the people’s choice,” says ShopLocal CEO Vikram Sharma. “Now more than ever shoppers are using the web to search for deals, and we’re delighted that they find great value at ShopLocal.com.”
About ShopLocal
ShopLocal (www.AboutShopLocal.com), leader in multi-channel marketing services, offers a complete suite of innovative digital solutions that connect advertisers and consumers – online and in-store. ShopLocal’s industry-leading SmartProduct business solutions (SmartCircular, SmartCatalog and SmartDelivery) enable more than one hundred of the nation’s top retailers, including Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, CVS, Albertsons and Sears, to deliver highly interactive, targeted and localized promotions to shoppers through online circulars, display advertising, search, social media, digital out of home and mobile. ShopLocal is the retail division of PointRoll, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett Company.
About MetrixLab
MetrixLab is a global Online Market Research company that specializes in the areas of New Product Development, Brand Communication, E-Business Performance and Satisfaction Research. Over the past nine years MetrixLab has grown to be one of Europe’s leading online market research companies with offices in Rotterdam, London, Paris, Hamburg and Madrid.
Thanks to Getting Finances Done for writing a nice blog article about one of the best price comparison websites (if we do say so ourselves), www.ShopLocal.com.
Getting Finances Done says that they use ShopLocal.com to browse through the actual circulars page by page or search by item. “I use ShopLocal very frequently for items that I don’t want to pay shipping on or that I want right away. I will also buy locally vs online when I want the option of returning the item to the store if I have problems or aren’t satisfied,” says the author.
They also created a basic video with audio commentary explaining how they use ShopLocal.com. Thanks again to Getting Finances Done for the post about ShopLocal.com.
The Leading Retail Circular Websites Showed an Increase of 27 Percent in Shoppers Contributing to a 43 Percent increase in Page Views
CHICAGO – Nov 27, 2009 - ShopLocal™, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), and the leader in multi-channel marketing services, is reporting a record breaking 27 percent rise in traffic to top retailers’ online circular sites as consumers prepared for their Black Friday shopping expeditions. Sale offers increased by 13 percent over last year and consumers responded in larger numbers and also increased their page views per visit by 12 percent. Retailers facilitated all of this as they not only offered a higher volume of promotions but an unprecedented number of major retailers also announced sales early.
“More than ever, consumers are using the internet to save themselves time and money by pre-planning their visits to local stores,” said Vikram Sharma, CEO of ShopLocal. “Throughout the past year consumers have tightened their belts and sought out deals, and we expect the trend will continue during the holidays. Retailers delivered holiday promotions earlier, inspiring more consumers to take advantage of the extended previews of holiday shopping deals and plan their purchases,” added Sharma.
Consumer activity on the ShopLocal circular sites peaked on Wednesday at 9 a.m., then again on Thursday at 9 p.m. as consumers solidified their shopping plans for Friday. The Thursday night peak set an all-time record for ShopLocal circular site activity with over 12.7 million page views in a single hour, surpassing the previous record which was also set at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
Unlike last year (2008) when recession fears curbed holiday spending, pent-up demand has led to consumers viewing more sale content than ever. The increased traffic to ShopLocal circular sites is being driven by increased consumer interest and retailer marketers who are pushing more promotions earlier. Consumers visiting these sites are expected to make the majority of their purchases in children’s toys, electronic products, and continue the trend of stay-cations and home improvements.
The latest and greatest promotions from retailers can be found on www.ShopLocal.com and information about holiday shopping trends is available at the ShopLocal blog: www.shoplocalblog.com.
About ShopLocal
ShopLocal (www.AboutShopLocal.com), leader in multi-channel marketing services, offers a complete suite of innovative digital solutions that connect advertisers and consumers – online and in-store. ShopLocal’s industry-leading SmartProduct business solutions (SmartCircular, SmartCatalog and SmartDelivery) enable more than one hundred of the nation’s top retailers, including Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, CVS, Albertsons and Sears, to deliver highly interactive, targeted and localized promotions to shoppers through online circulars, display advertising, search, social media, digital out of home and mobile. ShopLocal is the retail division of PointRoll, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett Company.
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