Verizon Enterprise Solutions Unveils Retail Index

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Nov. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The official start to the U.S. holiday shopping season is here, and to help put things into perspective, Verizon Enterprise Solutions is launching the Verizon Retail Index.  

Designed to identify online traffic patterns in the United States that Verizon attributes to consumer retail shopping activity, the Verizon Retail Index will measure average daily traffic and peak volumes from the Verizon IP network during the holiday season. Initial findings, which also include data insights based on traffic from the Verizon Cloud, will be posted at 9:30 a.m. ET on the Verizon Enterprise Solutions News Center starting Friday (Nov. 28) and will continue through the end of the year. Information will be available here and updated daily. 

"The size and strength of the Verizon IP network and our cloud platform give us tremendous insight into online shopping trends among consumers," said Michele Dupre, vice president of retail and hospitality at Verizon Enterprise Solutions. "The Verizon Retail Index offers decision makers and influencers in the retail, shipping and transportation industries a fresh point of view about online consumer habits. As more people go online to comparison shop and take advantage of Web promotions such as free shipping, in-store trials, discounts and loyalty programs over the holidays, it should be insightful to see when that activity is occurring and to what extent." 

Calculating the Verizon Retail Index

The Verizon Retail Index is based on traffic data attributed to consumer shopping activity from the company's networks over a 24-hour period. Based on historical network data, Verizon has assigned a baseline value of 100 to represent the average daily traffic rate. As part of its analysis, Verizon also will factor in select cloud data and provide the data with insight from the company's leading retail experts. Each day the Retail Index will be presented on a graph to provide an at-a-glance view of the 2014 online holiday shopping season.

A Look Back at 2013

In 2013, Verizon used data from its cloud to analyze online traffic patterns. Between the five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, Verizon's findings included:

• Early seasonal promotions: Retailers front-loaded the start of the holiday shopping season with online promotions starting at least three weeks in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend on average. 
• Post-turkey blitz: Online shopping on Thanksgiving Day continued to pick up steam from the prior year with peak volumes occurring after 6 p.m. ET.
• Cyber Monday: Some retailers experienced peak volumes between midnight and 2 am ET leading to a 35 percent increase in traffic and order volume year over year during the one-day period.

Click here to see last year's story.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions is a leading provider of advanced IT and communications services to enterprise and governments around the world. Visit Verizon Enterprise Solutions for more information.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 106 million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries. A Dow 30 company with more than $120 billion in 2013 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 178,500. For more information, visit www.verizon.com/news/.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions Online News Center: News releases, blog posts, media contacts and other information are available in Verizon Enterprise Solutions' online News Center at www.verizonenterprise.com/about/news. News from Verizon Enterprise Solutions is also available through an RSS feed at www.verizonenterprise.com/rss-options/.

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SOURCE Verizon

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