30% increase in Shopbot traffic from 2013, Shoppers Shun Bricks for Clicks

TORONTO, Nov. 28, 2014 /CNW/ - Canada's most popular price comparison company, Shopbot.ca, has experienced a massive jump in Canadian online shopping activity from 2013.

Statistics from the first two hours of its Black Friday sale on Thursday, between 6pm and 8pm show a 30% increase in unique web visitors with the demand for deals on high-end electronics driving the majority of shopping activity.

The most popular items so far this year have been the Macbook Air 13in, iPad Air, 9.7in and the Xbox One 500GB Bundle with Assassins Creed Unity and Assassins Creed IV Black Flag.

$50,000 GOLDEN LOON EGG GIVEAWAY

In addition to more than 8,000 Black Friday deals, Shopbot is giving one lucky online shopper in Canada a 24kt gold replica loon egg made from pure gold - with a value of $50,000. Online shoppers in Canada can enter to win the Golden Loon Egg at blackfriday.shopbot.ca and hunt for deals until midnight on Monday, December 1st.

"Shopbot is celebrating Black Friday in 2014 and thanking our Canadian customers by creating and giving away pure gold in the shape of a Canadian loon egg," said Monika Hajzokova, Director, Shopbot Canada.

"We considered delivering 50,000 loonies to one lucky Shopbot shopper - but a pound of pure gold with a Canadian twist will likely fit better in the winner's pocket," continued Hajzokova.

FOLLOW OUR GOLDEN 'HATCH-TAG': #GOLDENLOONEGG

The winner will have the option of 'sitting on the egg' and speculating on the price of gold increasing, or Shopbot will deliver the purchased cash value of the gold. To stay up-to-date with the campaign on Facebook and Twitter and find out what the winner does, use our golden 'hatch-tag': #goldenloonegg

HEAVYWEIGHT HOLIDAY SHOPPING

Shopbot's biggest peaks in traffic are consistently Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day. Over the past few years, a trend of Black Friday and Cyber Monday stealing the spotlight has emerged.

"It seems Canadians are preparing more and more to make their bigger purchases ahead of the holiday season. Last year we experienced a huge spike in traffic on Black Friday with eager shoppers likely taking a sick day or maybe sneaking in a purchase or two from work. We also had a significant traffic spike at 4am on Black Friday last year," said Shopbot Canada's Hajzokova".

"We're predicting  that Black Friday will deliver an early TKO to its fatigued holiday shopping competitor, Boxing Day," said Shopbot Canada's Hajzokova.

Notes to Editors

About the Shopbot Golden Loon Egg

  • 586.31 grams of pure gold (24kt) were used to create the Shopbot Golden Loon Egg
  • 586.31 grams = 20.68 ounces = 1.292 pounds
  • Things that weigh about a pound include a stick of butter, guinea pig, eight pre-cooked chicken wings and a football

Weird and Wacky Canadian Shopbot Searches

Shopbot has analyzed its Canadian data over the past 12 months to reveal:

  • Canadians searching for 'toilets' also tend to search for 'alarm systems'
  • As each winter begins, there is a sudden spike in searches for 'heaters' and curiously searches for 'ice cream makers' as well
  • Western Canada: People who search for 'pregnancy test' tend to also search for 'twin strollers'
  • Toys: Toopy and Binoo dolls are nearly twice as popular as Monster High and Frozen dolls
  • Overall, we can see that our Canadian shoppers are true animal lovers. Whether it's a sporting event or Halloween whatever the owner gets, their furry friend gets it too.

Shopbot Canada Stats and Facts

  • More than three million Canadians visit Shopbot.ca every month (unique visitors)
  • Shopbot features over six million products from over 400 retailers
  • Canadian customers are 55% male and 45% female
  • On average, Shopbot's Canadian customers are 31 years old and spend 2.5 minutes on the website

Black Friday in Canada Research Reports

  • Six in 10 Canadians plan on shopping this Black Friday, spending an average of $685 on gifts (Source: Accenture's 2014 holiday shopping survey)
  • Employers can expect around 1 million calls from staff claiming to be "under the weather" on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday (Source: IPG Mediabrands study)

About Shopbot Canada

Over three million Canadians visit Shopbot every month to compare six million products and deals from more than 400 retailers.

Shopbot has been connecting consumers and retailers in Canada since 2004.

About Groupe Shopbot Inc.

Shopbot Inc is an international group of high performance price comparison websites. As one of the global leaders of the price comparison market, their role is to help shoppers worldwide find the best deals out of all the noise and clutter on the web. While, aggregating massive quality traffic to their hundreds of Canadian merchants to drive not only visibility but sales. Shopbot strives to continuously develop new technologies and tools to help merchants to monitor and optimize every dollar invested in their services.

Since 2004, Shopbot has been changing the way people research and shop online. Shopbot remains the no. 1 choice in Canada, Australia and Brazil.

SOURCE Shopbot Canada

Copyright 2014 Canada NewsWire