Top 50 US Websites in May: Gifts, Photos & Coupons

June 24, 2009

This article is included in these additional categories:

Analytics, Automated & MarTech | CPG & FMCG | Paid Search | Retail & E-Commerce

The month of May 2009 saw a surge in online visits to gift-related sites as a result of Mother’s Day and other seasonal events, while money-saving coupon sites continued to draw significant interest, according to (pdf) a monthly analysis of US consumer activity at the top online properties from comScore‘s Media Metrix service.

comScore said that Mother’s Day, in addition to? high-school and university graduations, and the beginning of wedding season, make May a traditionally strong time of year for flowers, gifts and greetings sites.

At the same time, bargain hunting continues for a large percentage of Americans who are crunched by joblessness and who are faced with tough economic conditions as they struggle to make ends meet. These consumers are relying heavily on coupon sites.

Mother’s Day Boosts Gift Sites in May

With May 10 marking Mother’s Day in 2009, the Flowers/Gifts/Greetings category climbed 16% – to nearly 36 million visitors – as Americans searched for gifts for the mother figures in their lives. The American Greetings property led the category with 12.4 million visitors, followed by ProFlowers.com with 5.6 million visitors (up 255% vs. April 2009), and FTD.com with 4.1 million visitors (up 123%), comScore reported.

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The Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories category also experienced double-digit growth during the month, increasing 13% to nearly 18 million visitors. Swarovski Crystal’s site, Swarovski.com, led the category with 2.4 million visitors, an increase of 125% over April. Other sites in the category experiencing gains include Kay Jewelers (up 47% to 973,000 visitors) and Tiffany & Co. (up 15% to 812,000 visitors).

Coupons are Hot Properties

With gas prices climbing and consumer discretionary income falling, millions of Americans turned to online coupon sites in May for better deals on their retail purchases, the analysis found.

The Coupon category posted a particularly strong month, surging 19% to 34.7 million visitors to lead as the top-gaining category in May. Coupons Inc., which includes Coupons.com, captured the #1 position with more than 15 million visitors, a gain of 85% from the previous month.

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Eversave.com ranked #2 with 3.8 million visitors, followed by RetailMeNot.com with 3.5 million.

Americans Say ‘Cheese’ in May

Photo sites witnessed strong growth in May as visitors flocked to sites to post, view and order photos from such seasonal events as graduations, weddings, communions and other springtime gatherings. More than 90 million Americans – slightly less than half of the total US online population – visited a photo site in May, marking a 10% gain vs. April. Facebook.com Photos led the category with 34.6 million visitors (up 5%), followed by Photobucket.com LLC with 28.1 million visitors (up 13%) and Flickr.com with 24.4 million visitors (up 11%).

Top 50 Properties

Google Sites, which includes YouTube, continued to lead as the most visited property in May, with 157 million visitors. Google is followed by Yahoo Sites with 151.3 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 125.9 million visitors.

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Retailing giant Wal-Mart moved up 3 spots to #20 with 33.7 million visitors, while JPMorgan Chase Property jumped seven spots to #38 with 21.4 million visitors.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Platform-A led the May Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91% of the 193.8 million Americans online. Yahoo Network ranked second, reaching 87%, while Google Ad Network ranked third with an 85% reach.

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Yahoo Sites and Google both climbed one spot grabbing the #6 and #7 positions, respectively. YouTube ranked at #30.? Earlier research from Nielsen revealed that YouTube is the top site pick for CPG advertisers.

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