Jewelry Boosts Online Retail Traffic in UK

Jewelry Boosts December Online Retail Traffic in UK- 26 percent growth from November 2008
Jewelry and luxury goods helped draw internet traffic for online retailers in the United Kingdom this past Christmas. According to online research company comScore, traffic to jewelry and luxury goods sites grew 26 percent from November 2008 to 4.094 million unique visitors in December. The company did not provide comparative data for December 2007, nor did it give sales figures.

While growth in visitors to jewelry and luxury sites outpaced other retail products, it remained among the smaller categories of the top 10 tracked by comScore. Traffic to retail music sites grew 16 percent to 11.805 million visitors from November to December, while traffic to mall sites rose 16 percent to 13.689 million visitors, and flowers, gifts and greetings increased 16 percent to 5.522 million visitors. The total online retail audience remained flat at 6.6 million unique visitors in December.

Earlier, comScore reported that online sales of jewelry and watches in the United States fell 24 percent in December 2008 compared to a year earlier. Total online traffic to retail sites in the United States rose 5 percent to 180 million unique visitors during the month.