Press Release

Independent classified site Freeads.co.uk is riding the crest of the surge in online shopping as August figures from Hitwise show traffic soaring by soar by 118% compared to this time last year.

Growth figures from July were equally healthy with Freeads.co.uk seeing a 113% increase year on year.

Both months see the business significantly outperform rivals including market leader gumtree and loot.com in terms of growth who saw a growth of 27.2% and a fall of -40% respectively for August. Freeads.co.uk has held third place marketshare in the online classifieds sector since May - up from 13th in February - and is now almost more than twice the size (+91.7%) of loot.com.

This comes as the IRMG Index reported online sales exceeding £4 billion a month for the first time in July - an 80% increase or £1.86 billion increase, on July 2006.

The highest sales growth was in electrical goods, with sales 102% higher than the previous year and online clothing sales were 56% higher than a year earlier, according to IRMG.

Freeads.co.uk attributes its growth to the erratic summer weather which sent consumers onto the High Street on a spending frenzy - and now they are turning to online classifieds sites to resell their purchases as shoppers' shame sets in.

Chief executive Duncan Horton said: "We're stunned at how many items of brand new clothing have been added to the site by users recently. It seems that the British public hit the shops in a big way at the beginning of the summer when the weather was atrocious. Since then though the guilt has set in, and probably fear after hefty credit card bills landed on their doormats.

"From a buyers' point of view though this is a great time to bag a bargain as many of the items going on the site for sale have been dramatically reduced in price, as people are looking for a quick sale and to recoup some of their money and pay off some debt."

Ex-lastminute.com marketing chief Horton took over the helm of Freeads.co.uk in February with Stuart Parish, lastminute.com's former head of retail marketing, after founder of Holiday Autos Clive Jacobs bought a majority stake in the business.

Since March the number of unique ads on the site has risen from 45,000 per day to peaks of 70,000 currently, a figure that Horton is confident of boosting to 100,000 ads in the next three months.