Retail words of the week: food in the UK, style in Singapore and DIY down under

(Andrew Horwitz)

The following are retail search terms around the world with the largest increase in hits for the week ending January 1, according to Experian Hitwise.*

Internet shoppers who perhaps found the cupboards bare on New Year's Day were searching for supermarket opening times in the UK. Three popular searches were " Tesco new year opening hours," " Sainsbury's new year opening times" and " Tesco opening times new years day"; " shops open on new year's day" was also a popular search term.

In the United States, citizens were looking for something warm and a bit special for New Year's with the phrases " down coats," " dolman sleeve tops" and "party dresses new year's eve." Meanwhile, Internet users who maybe felt they had overdone it at Christmas, or who had resolved to lose weight, were looking for exercise video " Jane Fonda's workout"; a selection of Jane Fond's videos are available to buy on amazon.com.

Style was the theme of several searches in Singapore, where internet shoppers were looking for " Marc Jacobs ukita handbags," " Porsche sunglasses" and "Stefan Edberg polo." The last term refers to a vintage style of T-shirt worn by the now retired legendary Swedish tennis player Stefan Edberg. Searches indicate that several of the polo shirts are available to buy on online auction site eBay.

Several of the most popular searches in Australia were related to DIY activities, with the terms " fantastic furniture," " Ikea" and " bunnings" all appearing in this week's top ten list. Bunnings or Bunnings Warehouse offers a range of DIY tools, home furniture and outdoor living accessories. The retail chain also has outlets in New Zealand.

Experian Hitwise* - Fast-moving search terms under the industry category Shopping and Classifieds, ranked by the largest percentage increase for the week ending January 1 compared with the week ending December 25.