DigitalBeat

Travel and retail websites may be one of the few parties happy about the slumping economy, according to new data from metrics company comScore that shows people are going online to save money.

Earlier this week, I published an early copy of comScore’s top web properties for July, but I didn’t have access to the broader trend analysis that comScore released today. Between June and July, ground travel and cruise websites saw the biggest increase, growing by an impressive 10 percent. That may sound counterintuitive at first, but comScore says people are looking for deals to make their summer vacations more affordable, and may be jumping from site to site in the search.

Next on the growth list are consumer goods websites and online malls at 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Again, a lot of this growth can probably be attributed to the economy, since people are looking for deals and savings — plus, buying things online means you don’t have to waste gas driving to the store. The retail websites with the biggest gains include Staples.com sites (up 22 percent) and Office Depot (up 12 percent).

There are other trends at work, of course. For example, the blockbuster success of The Dark Knight and other summer movies drove an increase in online ticket sales, while celebrity gossip like the birth of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s twins boosted entertainment news sites.

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Tags: co:comscore, co:Office Depot, co:Staples