Daily deal sites witness drastic drop in traffic: ViziSense

Data for October 2011 shows a surge in user traffic to shopping cart based e-commerce websites.

An online traffic report released by the online audience and ad measurement platform ViziSense for October 2011 claims that daily deal sites have recorded a drop in unique user traffic.

According to the data, these deal sites are expanding into discounted products to increase their appeal among users.

The ViziSense data claims that 5.2 million users visited Snapdeal.com in October, as compared to 9.6 million in September, registering a drop of 46 per cent. Mydala.com, which witnessed a drop of 34 per cent, received 3.1 million visitors in October, as opposed to 4.6 million in September.

Speaking about the online traffic data, Amit Bhartiya, general manager, ViziSense, says, "A drop in traffic on daily deals sites (although one month is not adequate to prompt a verdict), especially when they are expanding rapidly into products different from their original domain of services, raises questions. Are these early signs of fatigue for users consuming restaurant and spa vouchers or should products as a category be left to the shopping cart format of sites?"

The data also suggests that product-driven and shopping cart based e-commerce sites have seen a surge in traffic in October. Yebhi.com has seen the highest growth in users (67 per cent) followed by Flipkart.com (55 per cent) and eBay.in (48 per cent). The report claims that the surge in traffic on these shopping cart e-commerce sites can be partly attributed to buying and gifting during the festive season in India.