Dogs Will Receive 2x The Gifts Than Cats This Holiday Season

Dogs Will Receive 2x The Gifts Than Cats This Holiday Season

SLI Systems Analysis of 3.5 Million E-Commerce Site Searches Finds Dog Beds and Cat Toys Most Popular Items; Dog Lovers Most Likely to Shop Sales

Christchurch, New Zealand. – December 14, 2016 – Cats may be a bit jealous of their dog friends, who will be digging an abundance of gifts this holiday. SLI Systems (SLI.NZSX), a global leader and provider of e-commerce solutions and services for mid-to-large-size Internet retailers and B2B sites, studied site search trends across pet product sites and found that this year it’s all fun and games for cats, and bedtime for dogs -- especially in California, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

According to PwC’s 2016 Holiday Outlook, pet owners will spend an average of $62 each this year on dogs, cats or both. Millennials are expected to outspend everyone else at $81 each, followed closely by Gen X at $79, families with children at $71, and singles at $70.

SLI studied site search activity across 8 pet websites based in the U.S., as well as several serving the UK and Australian markets. The company analysed more than 3.5 million consumer searches taking place between Nov 4, 2016 and Dec 4, 2016. (The study excluded searches for pet supplies, such as food or medicine, keeping it focused on likely gift items.)

Key Findings – Top Ten Items and Sale Habits

· •Dogs all set for slumber – Across the globe, site searches for “dog bed” were nearly 2xmore common than the second most popular item: “dog collar.” The remainder of the topten, in order, were: toys, treats, coats, bowls, sweaters, crates, chews, and bones.

· •Cats want to play and scratch – Sixteen percent of cat-related searches were for “cattoy,” earning the leading spot among the most popular cat gifts this season. Also clawingtheir way into the top ten, in order: “scratch” items, beds, catnip, collars, treats, carriers,bowls, trees, and of course condos.

· •Diggin’ for Deals – Searches for dog products accompanied by the word “sale” were16% more common within dog-related searches than when “sale” was used within cat-related searches, indicating dog owners are more likely to seek discounts.

U.S. Highlights – California and New York Into Pet Gifts

“Almost half of all households nationwide have a pet, driving a booming market for pet products, particularly online. Our data team set out to uncover likely gift trends for these special family members, analyzing the most popular site search terms among pet e-commerce sites using SLI Learning Search® during four weeks leading into the 2016 holiday season,” said Chris Brubaker, CMO, SLI Systems.

· •Top Five Dog-Loving States – Dogs are living the dream in California, where 9.2% ofall dog-related site searches originated. Grabbing 7.7% of dog item searches was NewYork State, followed by Florida (5.8%) and then Pennsylvania and Texas, which virtuallytied with 5.7%.

· •Top Five Cat-Loving States – Cats also find most comfort in California. More than 10%of U.S. searches for cat products originated in the Golden State, with New York (8.9%)

· close behind, followed in order by Pennsylvania (6.5%), Florida (6.1%) and Wisconsin (5.8%). New York and California also virtually tied for top searches for “kitten” items.

California is the most populous state in the U.S., with more than 39 million residents, followed by Texas (27.5), Florida (20.3 million), New York (27.5 million) and Illinois (12.9 million) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). Wisconsin, with about 5.8 million residents, however, ranks 21st in population, making the state’s love of furry felines notable.

About SLI Systems

SLI Systems (SLI.NZSX) accelerates e-commerce for the world’s top retailers by generating more traffic, converting shoppers into buyers and maximizing order values through solutions that improve site search, navigation, mobile, merchandising, personalization, recommendations and SEO. SLI is the most chosen SaaS-based site search provider to Internet Retailer Top 1,000 retailers. The SLI Buyer Engine combines user behavior and machine learning to accurately predict what shoppers are most likely to buy, shortening the path to purchase. The SLI Commerce Console™ organizes key sales insight and tuning capabilities into one easy-to-use cloud-based console. SLI Systems operates on five continents, powering more than 600 websites and offering solutions in 20 languages. For more information, visit www.sli-systems.com.

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