Traffic Soars On Black Friday Holiday Shopping Web SitesTraffic Soars On Black Friday Holiday Shopping Web Sites

Traffic to Web sites advertising Black Friday holiday shopping sales increased 147% last week, according to Hitwise.

The online intelligence company said that traffic soared during the week ending Nov. 17 compared to the previous week, while also increasing 45% from the same week last year.

Visitors between 25 and 34 were the highest represented age group to visit Black Friday Web sites monitored by Hitwise. They accounted for 37% of visits for the four weeks ending Nov. 17, 2007.

"As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, consumers are taking advantage of the information available on Black Friday Web sites to prepare shopping lists before setting their alarms to take advantage of the deals this weekend," Heather Dougherty, director of research at Hitwise, said in a statement. "Retailers should monitor the Black Friday Web sites to see which promotions are driving discussion and excitement among shoppers to make sure that they have those products prominently placed on their Web sites and in stores."

The iPod and the Nintendo Wii were the most popular search terms sending visits to Hitwise's Shopping and Classifieds category for the week ending Nov. 17. The terms "ipod," "nintendo wii," and "wii" ranked as the three most popular product searches. Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 also made it into the top 10 searches last week.

Visitors to Black Friday advertising Web sites were predominantly females aged 25-34, according to Hitwise demographic data. About 61% of visitors to the custom category of Black Friday websites were female during the four weeks ending Nov. 17. Females comprised the majority of visits across all of the sites, including Black Friday Ads (64%), BlackFridayAds.com (64%), and The Black Friday (63%).

Black Friday Web sites received 61% of traffic from new visitors for the week ending Nov. 17. BlackFridayAds.com drew the highest percentage of new visitors at 73%. The BlackFriday.gottadeal.com Web site attracted the highest percentage of returning visitors at 48%.

Visits to the Hitwise U.S. Retail 100 Index rose 7% for the week ending Nov. 17 compared to the previous week.

Amazon.com remained the most-visited Web site within the Index last week, with 11% of the visits to sites on the Retail 100 Index. Wal-Mart ranked second with 7%. CircuitCity.com was the biggest gainer, with traffic rising 24% compared to the previous week.