BACK-TO-SCHOOL SHOPPING IGNITES,
EARLY GOLDRUSH FOR HALLOWEEN COSTUMES
Mounting Internet searches for Star Wars and Batman
costumes reveal the season's probable hits
NEW YORK, August. 30, 2005— With children already headed back to school, online shoppers have now moved to the next big online shopping extravaganza - shopping for Halloween costumes.
According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, Internet searches for "halloween costumes" increased 196 percent for the week ending August 27, 2005 versus three weeks prior. In contrast, searches for a necessary back-to-school item, "backpacks" reached their yearly peak during the week ending July 30, 2005, and searches were down 29 percent for the week ending August 27.
Early Halloween shopping
In 2004, Internet searches for "halloween costumes" began increasing in August and peaked at levels thirteen times normal during the week ending October 9, 2004 - nearly three weeks before Halloween. In contrast, searches for "halloween," a term not necessarily shopping-related, began increasing several weeks later and peaked the week ending October 30, 2004, just before Halloween.
"Researching for Halloween products begins two months prior to the holiday, as evidenced by consumer search behavior," said Bill Tancer, general manager of worldwide research at Hitwise. "In addition to researching purchases ahead of time, online shoppers also have adapted to longer lead times to account for shipping and special orders. Search term trends are a great indicator of what is becoming top of mind for consumers."
Searchers seek costumes from popular movies
Early search term data indicate that this year's hot costumes will be related to two of this year's hit films: "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," and "Batman Begins." Among the top 30 search terms driving visits to leading costume retailer BuyCostumes.com (www.buycostumes.com) for the four weeks ending August 27 2005 were "star wars costumes," "batman costumes" and "darth vader costumes."
Searchers Female, Age 25-34
Hitwise demographic data show that those searching for Halloween costumes were likely to be between 25 and 34 years old. For the four weeks ending August 27, 2005, visitors to Costume Express (www.costumeexpress.com) and BuyCostumes.com were, respectively, 97 and 69 percent more likely than the average Internet user to be in that age group. Females comprised 58 percent of visitors to Buycostumes.com and 56 percent of visitors to Costume Express. This may indicate that a large percentage of those searching for Halloween costumes are mothers with young children.
Top Sites Receiving Visits from the Term "halloween costumes"
Four weeks ending August 27, 2005
Rank
Domain
Share of Visits from Search Term
1.
www.halloweenmart.com
16.76%
2.
www.buycostumes.com
16.18%
3.
www.costumeexpress.com
5.05%
4.
www.halloweenstreet.com
4.30%
5.
www.halloweencostumes4u.com
4.13%
Contact: For media inquiries or to schedule an analyst interview, please contact Lizzie Babarczy: press@hitwise.com (212) 380 2910.
About Hitwise:
Hitwise is the world's leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.
By monitoring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites. Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as search marketing, affiliate programs, online advertising, visitor segmentation, content development and lead generation.
Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in mega panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.
More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com
