In economic terms, the auto industry was hit by the perfect storm: high gas prices, tight consumer financing, plant closings, brand reductions, dealership pruning, employee layoffs, longer vehicle retention, surplus inventory, manufacturer bankruptcies and waning consumer confidence. Despite a 37% decrease in total auto sales over 2008, bright spots persisted: the redesigned Forester revved up Subaru sales while price leaders Hyundai and Kia gained traction from new models. Online media has changed the rules of the road for auto marketing by placing consumer generated media squarely in the driver’s seat.

Women age 25-54 with at least one child — the so-called “Power Moms” – represent nearly 20 percent of the active online population, according to Nielsen Online, and they are wielding more influence than ever.
So what are Power Moms doing online?  Where they spend time varies by demographic categories.  For example, “Established Moms,” those aged 40-50 with three or more children at home, are heavy online shoppers, with Shopzilla.com the most popular site.  Newbie Moms, aged 25-34 with one or two children at home, also enjoy online shopping, but social …

More New Zealanders than ever are turning to the internet to shop, according to a new report from Nielsen Online.  Those who shop online grew to 45 percent in the fourth quarter 2008, up from 39 percent for the same period a year before.  The adult online shopping population now stands at a record 1.4 million people out of a total population of about 4.5 million.
The trend towards shopping online cuts across most categories, with the most popular categories being airline tickets, books/magazine, clothing and other travel-related services such as …

In November, eBay drew more unique visitors than any other apparel and beauty retail website: 7.05 million.
But it was Bath & Body Works’ website – ranked ninth, with 3.56 million unique visitors – that showed the most impressive year-over-year growth: 39%. 
American Eagle (+25%) and Gap (+23%) also logged impressive gains over November 2007.
The top 10 apparel and beauty online shopping destinations, ranked unique visitors in November, are below.

In November, almost one-third (30.6%) of all visitors to ProFlowers.com made a purchase — the highest conversion percentage among all retail websites, according to Nielsen.
Metrostyle (23.6% conversion rate), QVC (21.6% conversion rate), Office Depot (21.6% conversion rate), L.L. Bean (21.5% conversion rate), Tickets.com (20.1% conversion rate), Blair.com (18.9% conversion rate), Lands End (18.4% conversion rate), 1800flowers.com (17.8% conversion rate), and The Sportsman’s Guide (16.8% conversion rate) rounded out the top ten.
Top online retailers in ten key product categories, ranked by purchases and customer numbers in November, are below.

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
William P. Young’s ”The Shack” was the top-selling fiction book through November 30.
Among non-fiction books, “A New Earth,” by Eckhart Tolle was the top-seller.
The audio version of Tolle’s “A New Earth” was the top-selling audio book of the year.

Nearly one-fourth (24%) of online shoppers have spent more than $500 so far this holiday season, with 22% spending between $100-199 online, Nielsen reported Thursday. 
Most online shoppers surveyed by Nielsen (78%) cited the Web’s round-the-clock convenience as their primary reason for shopping online.
A majority of consumers made purchases from online retailers they already knew and trusted — 62% told Nielsen they ordered products from retailers they had shopped with in the past.  Search engines were also a popular way to find online retailers (38% of respondents), followed by offline catalogs (31% of respondents).  
In …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
It’s official: Americans love their carbs.  The Bread and Baked Goods category ranked number one for 2008 — both in terms of consumer purchases and retail sales.  According to Nielsen, 99% of U.S. homes purchased bread/baked goods at least once during the 52 weeks ending June 28, 2008.  The Bread/Baked Goods category raked in $18.3 billion in sales through November 1.  Other …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
Sony’s Playstation 2 was the top game console of 2008, claiming 31.7% of all measured console minutes, according to Nielsen.  The Xbox 360 and Wii ranked second and third, respectively, with 17.2% and 13.4% of all usage minutes between January and October of this year.
Blizzard Entertainment’s “World of Warcraft” was the most popular PC game title of the year, drawing an average of 0.723% of all PC …

Among the top computer and consumer electronics websites for November, computer giants Microsoft and Apple easily drew the largest unique audiences, according to Nielsen Online. 
Visitors to Apple’s site logged the longest average stay-times.

Rank
(by UA, Nov. 2008)
Top 10
Computer & Consumer Electronics
Web Brands:
Nov. 2008
Unique Audience:
Nov. 2008
(in 000s)
Time Per Person (hh:mm:ss)

1
Microsoft
95,543
0:45:44

2
Apple
52,909
1:12:27

3
Adobe
29,472
0:05:19

4
Hewlett Packard
23,435
0:09:58

5
Best Buy
22,138
0:11:28

6
Flickr
19,304
0:09:06

7
CNET
17,935
0:06:23

8
Dell
17,058
0:18:38

9
Circuit City
16,609
0:08:18

10
Mozilla
14,400
0:02:23

Source: Nielsen Online (November 2008 ).

Note: Web properties reported at either the brand or channel market level and can include multiple URL’s.