Christmas Search Trends

Electronics firms may have thought that Christmas came early this year, as new research has revealed the top search trends for products for winter months - and goods such as games consoles and mobile phones received high search volumes.

According to Experian Hitwise's latest survey, for the week ending December 5th, the Apple iPhone was the most popular item for shoppers, taking 1.75 per cent of all searches on the web.

This was closely followed by the manufacturer's iPod Touch, with 1.29 per cent.

Research director at the company Robin Goad observed that visits to websites that stock such merchandise never fail to climb in the approach to Christmas.

However, he remarked that, this year, they have peaked "a week closer to Christmas than compared to the last couple of years".

This, Mr Goad suggested, indicates that Britons are waiting for further bargains to appear and are more prepared to place their orders closer to the big day.

The study also showed that the most searched for product types during this period were mobile phones, with 14.36 per cent of queries, while toys and hobbies accounted for 13.61 per cent and video games 11.19 per cent.

Search trends from other countries corroborate Experian Hitwise's findings that electronics are of interest to consumers.

Comparison website Pricecheck recently noted that the most favoured products in South Africa for the year so far are mobiles, with eight out of the top ten being such handsets. 

Source: Experian - 'Retail and Hot Gadgets Update'