Tesco Captures Four Times More Online Orders Than Closest Competitor During First Seven Months Of 2006

Comscore Networks’ Online Grocery Sales Data Finds Sainsbury’s Online Buyers Incur the Lowest Delivery Charges and Typically Spend More Per Order

London, UK, August 22, 2006 – Comscore Networks, the leader in measuring the digital age, today released the results of an in-depth analysis of Comscore's proprietary UK online grocery sales data covering the first seven months of 2006. Comscore’s UK database is culled from the behavior of more than 2 million consumers worldwide who have given Comscore permission to passively observe their online activities. The analysis revealed that Tesco.com is by far the most popular online grocery site in the UK, capturing 66 percent of all online grocery orders, amounting to an average of 30,000 orders per day for total sales of approximately 2.5 million GBP every day.

Tesco.com’s closest online competitor was ASDA online (Asda.com), which captured 16 percent of all orders, followed by Sainsbury's online (Sainsburystoyou.com) with 14 percent. Despite its third-place standing in volume, Sainsbury's online customers actually spent the most when they ordered, averaging almost 90 GBP compared to 80 GBP for both Tesco and ASDA. In addition, ASDA and Sainsbury's online customers typically ordered more items, both averaging 69 units per order compared to Tesco's 58.

Delivery Charges
As part of its analysis, Comscore tracked the delivery costs charged at checkout and found that Sainsbury's online customers incurred the lowest delivery charge during the period, at just over 3 GBP per delivery on average. Tesco's online customers paid over 4 GBP per delivery, and ASDA's online customers paid the most at nearly 5.50 GBP.

“Comscore is uniquely able to deliver key insight into the delivery charges incurred by shoppers at UK online grocery sites,” said Bob Ivins, managing director of Comscore Europe. “Delivery charges represent a key component of overall online grocery service, because the top three sites each offer complex pricing structures based on the delivery slot chosen and the amount ordered.”

Top Items
Customers purchased more than 11 million bananas from Tesco.com in the first seven months of 2006, representing the top item sold by volume at the site. Tesco's Luxury Soft Toilet Tissue 12-packs generated almost 2 million GBP over the year, more sales than any other product.

"The best performing items at Tesco.com seem to be an interesting mix of fresh fruit and vegetables with a reasonable shelf life, like carrots, onions and apples, and large-volume containers that are awkward for consumers to carry home themselves," said Ivins.

About Comscore Europe

Comscore Europe is an operating division of Comscore Networks, Inc., the leader in digital media measurement. Comscore Europe provides details of visitation, demographics and online buying power for Web site audiences across European, U.S. and global markets.

About Comscore Networks
Comscore Networks is a global leader in measuring the digital age. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given Comscore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behaviour, including online and offline purchasing. Comscore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, Comscore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behaviour and attitudes. Comscore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. Comscore services are used by global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com