Exclusive: Cheapflights was number one over turn-of-year period

Consumers demanding value for money during the downturn have been credited with helping Cheapflights.co.uk remain ahead of its competitors in December and January.
 
According to Hitwise data, the price comparison website remained ahead of its rivals in the sector over the turn-of-year period.
 
In December, Cheapflights rose to fifth in the Hitwise travel agents category, behind Expedia, Thomson, lastminute.com and Thomas Cook but ahead of rivals Travelzoo, Travelsupermarket.com and Skyscanner.
 
Francesca Ecsery, global sales director, was delighted with the performance, particularly as some of Cheapflights’ competitors ran high-profile advertising campaigns over the period.
 
"January has been very good, and we have had some very aggressive growth targets. Versus last year we are anything between 30% and 60% ahead,” she said.
 
"Unique users are up and we are seeing more searches. People are more discerning now and they do spend more time looking through more offers before clicking.
 
"We have spent a huge amount of time enhancing our site with all sorts of travel tips, and that means users spend more time on the site searching."
 
Ecsery said the site’s new offer pages had helped to improve the quality of leads sent on to advertisers, helping those advertisers build their own brand presence.
 
"It’s all about meat and not fluff, and, because we are a publisher of deals and do not discriminate, we have the most offers of anyone else on the planet," Ecsery claimed.
 
"Last year we spent a huge amount of time on product development, making sure our data is super-clean and super-available."

 > Blog post: Mom and pop power: Cheapflights on deals and advertiser diversity

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