Talked with Rob Solomon, General Manager and Vice President of Yahoo! Shopping, for a quick holiday shopping update…

On Traffic…
“On Thursday, we saw year over year traffic growth of 63% and on Friday we saw growth of 52%. We were expecting growth in the 20-30% range.”

On Hot Products…
“Xbox 360 is an incredibly popular search term, but no one has it. You can buy it at auction for 2-4x list price [Maybe Yahoo! Shopping should put a link up to Yahoo! Auctions on that search results page] iPod nanos, and the iPod itself. Digital cameras. Also, shoes are very popular, with Puma as a stand out brand, rising to the top 20.

On Popular Toys…
-Roboraptor – a robotic dinosaur, this year’s Robosapien
-Darth vader voice changing mask
-The Star Wars Mr. Potato Head Dolls - Darth Tater and Spud Trooper
-Leapfrog products
-‘Shout’ Dancing Elmo
-Bratz dolls.

On the Shoposphere…
“When we launched, there were a lot of great lists created across different themes. Now, a lot of holiday thematic lists are being created; top holiday movie lists, toy lists, wish lists, things people lust after, things people want. We had theorized that themes would be important - the holiday season, Valentine’s day, etc., and people seem to be tapping into [that idea]. We’re really pleased with how it’s taken off. It’s exceeding expectations and being viewed in bigger numbers than expected.”

“We also hoped it would tap into the long tail of products as we now have 100m products on Yahoo! Shopping, and if you look into the lists you will see a good assortment of products that you never would know existed. As people consume and syndicate their lists, it will help with retention and it will spread the word [about the offerings on Yahoo! Shopping]. The reason we created the Shoposphere was to take our notion of Yahoo! Shopping and extend it anywhere. This is a big part of our strategy.”

“Pick lists are definitely a twist on traditional reviews as reviews used to be a one to one thing. [The Shoposphere] is the next generation of how people are reviewing products. It’s turning into a blog meets review platform. We think this is one of the products that will kick off a very rapid phase of innovation from big players in Q1.”

More Yahoo! Shopping Stories:
Comparison Shopping - Important Holiday Season Happenings - November 26, 2005
The Shoposphere - A Closer Look at the New Yahoo! Shopping - November 15, 2005
Integration of Shopping Coupons - October 14, 2005
Interview with Chris Saito (Yahoo! Shopping) on the launch of Yahoo! Shopping Web Services - August 4, 2005
Interview with Rob Solomon, GM & VP Yahoo! Shopping - July 18, 2005