• by February 13, 2001

Jupiter Media Metrix reports that traffic to personals sites -- including Match.com, Oneandonly and Matchmaker among others -- increased from 3.9 million unique visitors in January 2000 to 5.8 million in January 2001, a 46.9% increase. Traffic to sites specializing in flowers, gifts, greetings, cosmetics and e-cards also increased significantly.

“People are increasingly turning to the Internet as a tool and resource not only for shopping but also for communicating with other people through personals and e-greetings,” said Heather Dougherty, Jupiter Research analyst.

“Sites must turn this traffic into customer relationship-building opportunities and maximize revenue possibilities through advertising and product sales. With Valentine's Day fast approaching, companies that proactively direct visitors to their sites through e-mail promotions and special catalogues stand to benefit most from the holiday.” One of the key findings of the report is that men dominate personals sites, comprising 58.3% of the audience in January 2001. However, women have a larger representation on such romance-related sites as Lovingyou.com and TheKnot.com, where they comprise 55.6 and 63.1% of the audience, respectively.

Also, the study found, average daily unique visitors to 1-800-Flowers.com, RedEnvelope.com and VictoriasSecret.com increased by 98.9%, 100% and 13.6%, respectively (week ending Feb. 4, 2001 over week ending Feb. 2, 2000).

During the same period, greeting card sites, such as AmericanGreetings.com and Hallmark.com, increased in average daily unique visitors by 17.5 percent and 37.3%, respectively (week ending Feb. 4, 2001 over week ending Feb. 2, 2000).