Onine Wedding Gift Purchases Up

Study shows slight traffic increase at Web sites which sell wedding related gifts, with online gift registries especially being popular.

With wedding season in full swing as summer progress, an interesting study from Feedback Research, a division of Claria Corporation, reveals that more people are turning to the Internet to help in wedding gift research, purchases and wedding planning needs.

The study analyzed traffic between March and June on wedding category Web sites, as well as surveying a random sampling of those who were visiting those sites. Among the more interesting results:

• There was a slight increase in online purchases of wedding gifts, up one point to 34 percent from this time a year ago.
• Online gift registries continue to be a big hit, with 80 percent of those who purchased a wedding gift online in the last year indicating they did it via the registry.
• The biggest traffic winner in the online gift registry category was Target, who collected 39.6 percent. They were followed by Bed, Bath & Beyond and Crate and Barrel.