'Surge' in online retail search volumes

26.01.2012

New figures have shown that online retail search volumes were up by almost a quarter in the final three months of 2011. The British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Google Online Retail Monitor showed that volumes grew 24% compared to the last quarter of 2010 on the back of increasing numbers of people surfing the web via tablet computers and smartphones. Search volumes for these technologies were up 169% compared to the same period a year earlier. More than a quarter of searches typed into web browsers on Christmas Day were done so via mobiles and tablets. The final three months of 2011 also saw food and drink-related searches soar by nearly a third. When it came to people searching for products with tablets and smartphones, homeware was the biggest riser. Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said: "For a fourth successive quarter, the number of retail searches from smartphones and tablets has nearly trebled compared with the previous year. "During December, one in five retail searches came from a mobile device and on Christmas Day this increased to more than one in four. Copyright Press Association 2012