• by December 14, 2005

In case you still haven't gotten to your online holiday shopping, we decided to do a little reconnaissance on the top search terms being typed into search engines even as we speak. So we asked Hitwise to help us out with it.

When it comes to the top search terms spurring visits to toys and hobbies sites, Hitwise finds the usual suspects: "barbie," "american girl," "build a bear," "lego," and "bratz" are the top five search terms for the four weeks ending Dec. 10. Interestingly, No. 6 is "airsoft guns," a brand and product we've never heard of, No. 7 is "yugioh cards," never heard of those either, and No. 8 is "yugioh," nope, never heard of it. Can someone out there enlighten this here Minute? Just for the record, No. 12 was "hello kitty," one of our all-time favorites.

We also asked our friends at Hitwise to crunch some data on adult toys (no, not those), but gadgets and electronics we'd all be happy to receive this season. Hitwise's top 10 search terms sending visits to appliances and electronics sites for the four weeks ending Dec. 10 were: "ipod," (no surprise there), "cell phones," "mp3 players," "us cellular" (huh? They must be running a promotion), "ipods," "digital cameras," "xbox 360," "ipod mini," "cell phone," and "free cell phones." We note that while "ipod" and "ipods" were both entered, the term "video ipod" wasn't. We are curious about why that is the case. By the way, "plasma tv" was No. 17 on this list and something called "tomtom" was No. 19. We have no idea...

And this just in--Hitwise today reports that the market share of U.S. Internet searches containing the words "gift card" was up 32 percent for the week ending Dec. 10, compared to the previous week. Instead of gift cards from retailers, those associated with major credit cards such as Visa, American Express and Visa dominated general gift card searches, while "itunes gift card," "olive garden gift card" and "gas gift card" dominated specific gift card searches.

Because most of us enjoy receiving treats at this time of year--well, any time of the year--we wanted to know more about the search activity on grocery and alcohol sites. So, by brand and by product, the Hitwise analysis found No. 1 was "harry and david," (could we possibly receive more of these catalogues in the mail? Oh yes, Godiva has sent five and we're still counting...); No. 2 is "omaha steaks"; No. 3 is "albertsons," (a regional grocery chain); No. 4 is "kroger" (a familiar name from our childhood in Pennsylvania); and No. 5 "whole foods," which is taking New York City by storm.

By the way, No. 20 on the list is "figis." Huh? We know what figs are, but "figis?" Is that like haggis? (Haggis is a Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal, according to Dictionary.com).

Mmmm. Yummy.

Uh, we figured out that "figis" is Figi's, a purveyor of gift baskets and "gifts in good taste," according to the Web site.

But getting back to the top search terms by product. The terms are: "cigars," "turducken," (we told you about that around Thanksgiving time, a rich mix of duck and turkey), "wine," "wine of the month club," "cigarettes," (please quit in 2006!), "gift baskets," "wine of the month," "candy," "coffee," and "cheese." Omaha Steaks, it's worth noting, is an extremely popular online destination. According to Hitwise data, it had a 10.87 percent share of visits from searches in the grocery and alcohol Web sites category for the week ending Dec. 3. The next closest rival was Harry and David, which had 5.70 percent for the same period.

If this hasn't whet your appetite, we don't know what will. So will ya hurry up already with the shopping?