• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 5, 2005

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that e-greeting card sites jumped 63 percent week-over-week from home, driven by well-wishers who sent online St. Patrick's day greetings during the week ending March 20.

The e-greeting card category drew more than 5.1 million unique visitors, reaching more than 4.6 percent of the active online population. In comparison, this year's Valentine's Day holiday week drew 6.2 percent of all active home Web users to e-greetings sites.

Hallmark.com experienced one of the most notable growths in the category, capturing the No. 1 ranking for the fastest growing site at home. Traffic to the site soared 119 percent with nearly 1.2 million unique visitors, as compared to 530,000 the previous week. 

Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings, said "It's interesting that St. Paddy's Day would draw nearly the same level of user reach as Valentine's Day, the most popular holiday for greeting card sites, showing people's ease and enjoyment in sending e-cards.”