• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 27, 2016

According to Hitwise, a division of Connexity, reported by John Fetto, senior analyst, “… this year’s ‘peak week’ (Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday) reveals how, when and where U.S. shoppers navigated the online retail space during the busiest shopping week(s) of the year.”

On Thanksgiving Day, “… the Hitwise Retail 500 sites received a total of 336 million visits… (or) just under 14 million visits per hour overall… visits between 8PM and 11PM on Thanksgiving Day were more than 50% greater than the hourly average for that day… Amazon.com… received 25% of their Thanksgiving Day visits from 8PM onward… the late Thanksgiving Day shopping surge continued throughout the night… with higher than usual traffic observed between midnight and 6AM… “

“On Black Friday,” says the report, “… the top retail sites were busiest between 11AM and noon when visits were 52% higher than the daily hourly average… a different picture from… Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, which both saw their busiest periods in the evening… Amazon, as an example… received only 20% of their Black Friday visits between 8PM and midnight… while receiving a little over 23% of their daily visits between 11AM and 4PM.

“… Cyber Monday didn’t look altogether different from a typical weekday… in terms of hourly shopping distribution… visits were considerably higher… Hitwise Retail 500 registered 329 million online visits… up from 204 million visits the Monday prior… Hitwise did observe a slightly greater than average share of online shopping occurring during the early morning hours of Cyber Monday… between 6AM and 8AM… “

“… Unlike Cyber Monday,” says the report, “… in 2015 when working hours received a greater than normal share of shopping activity… Hitwise observed that shopping sites (in 2016) … registered just average or a slightly below average share… between 9AM and 5PM… online shopping on Cyber Monday was greatest during the evening hours… especially… between 8PM and 10PM… (when) the top retail sites received visits that were about 57% higher than the Cyber Monday hourly average…”

Finally, says the report, “… Amazon.com, which received more visits on Cyber Monday than any other day this year (96.8 million)…received more visits between 8PM and 9PM on Cyber Monday than during any other single hourly period during all of peak week… “

To learn more about the hourly shopping patterns, product searches and traffic drivers for major shopping sites from Connexity, please visit here