Online Searches for “Gift Card” Increase as Holiday Shoppers Panic
Internet searches for the term “gift cards” more than doubled as online shoppers, faced with the imminence of several December gift-giving holidays, turned to the Internet for one-size-fits-all gifts.
During the week ending Dec. 16, lookups for the term “gift cards” rose 109%, while searches for more specific searches strings surged as well. “American Express gift cards” rose 184%, “iTunes gift cards” was up 69%, and “Visa gift cards” was up 19%, according to Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service.
Additionally, Hitwise reported that “iPod” was the leading product-related search term that sent visitors to Web sites within its Shopping and Classifieds category during the week.
Visits to Hitwise’s Retail 100 Index sites were up 4.3% for the week, compared with the week that ended Dec. 17, 2005. Amazon.com was the most-visited site last week, receiving 13.96% of all visits among sites on the Retail 100 Index.
