The market share of visits to wedding websites has increased 15%, year on year, according to Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service.

    Hitwise monitors over 500,000 websites in 160 categories used by over 25 million Internet users each day and compared the weeks of 13 August 2004 and 2005 for the wedding websites study. It found that visitors to websites in its Weddings category peak in January and August and noted a 42% increase in visits to such sites in the last month. It claimed that wedding planning activities draw online visitors in January and last minute planners and speech givers use the websites during the summer months.

    Hitwise revealed that wedding websites such as the two top ranked wedding sites, www.confetti.co.uk and www.hitched.co.uk, send 16% of visits to sites in its Shopping and Classifieds category, indicating significant online purchasing of wedding gifts and supplies. Confetti and Hitched are reported to have seen a 19% and 14% increase in visits, respectively, in the last four weeks. However Hitwise claimed they are both facing growing competition from smaller wedding planning and niche sites and have lost 22% and 24% of market share, respectively, in the Weddings category during the same period.