Continuing in its top spot again this year, the Apple iPhone was the most requested product in 2011. iPhone-related searches have increased by 36% compared to last year. Searches for the new iPhone 4S have rapidly increased since it was released in recently. However, the Samsung Galaxy S phone competes with rival iPhone 4 and 4S in the number of searches, and have surged almost 600% since last year.

The fastest growing search keyword on PriceMe is “iPad”. Searches related to iPads (including iPad 2) have increased 1,800% since last year, with interest in tablets in general increasing by some 260% ! Other members of the tablet family such as ebook readers, are also trending upwards. Searches for Kindle have grown by 240% and ebook readers in general by 40%.

“There’s always a few surprises when we measure what our users are looking at” says Chris Palmer, Marketing Director at PriceMe. “This year the number of searches for fridges has increased by 45% year on year, with bar fridges being a particularly hot item during RWC” “Whiteware is often seen as a “barometer” product that consumers purchase when they’re feeling confident about the economy” says Palmer. Similarly, searches for microwave ovens were up 101%  and lawnmowers jumping from almost zero last year to being in the top 30 products searched this year!

One of the hottest search terms overall was for the mega-hit video game Modern Warfare 3. Overall interest in PS3 video games has remained constant over the year, while searches for PSP games have increased by 92%. Other hot game searches are Skyrim (from Elder Scrolls) and traditional Lego.

What’s Hot

Apple iPad  +  1,800

Samsung Galaxy S  +  600%

Amazon Kindle  +  240%

Microwave ovens (general)  +  101%

PSP video games  +  92%

Fridges (general)  +  45%

eBook readers (general)  +  40%

Apple iPhone  +  36%

What’s Cold

Freeview (TV) products  -  53%

Apple iPods -  31%

Expresso machines (general)  -  29%

Trampolines  -  26%

Kinect  games -  25%

Methodology

Search activity was compared on PriceMe for the period 1^st -16^th November 2011 and 2010, using Google Analytics as a measuring tool. Differences between search volume over the two periods has been accounted for in the analysis. A total of 40,813 searches were analysed.

We have enjoyed providing our service to you during 2010, and look forward to exceeding your expectations as a shopping partner and customer acquisition channel for your business over the coming year. Online shopping continues to grow at a rapid pace in Australia, and PriceMe has grown with that increased activity during the last year.

PriceMe’s increased visitor numbers caused us some server performance problems in September/October (some would say we’re a victim of our own success !). Our servers ran out of available memory due to visitor spikes and high loads, resulting in server outages and at times a slow site. We have now upgraded our infrastructure with more powerful servers that can now cope with higher traffic loads. The set-up was also improved, so that we can more efficiently capture intra-day product data updates. The new infrastructure was rolled out in mid-October, and has proven to be reliable and fast.

We are very much looking forward to meeting the challenges that 2011 will no doubt bring to the retail sector. Online shopping is one of the star areas of retailing and we feel very privileged to be a leading provider of information technology to this important and vibrant industry sector.

Once again – all the best to you and your family for the new year and we look forward to helping you grow your online business over the next 12 months and beyond.

The PriceMe Team