With over 75% of all UK consumers planning to do some or all of their Christmas shopping online this year, eBay – the UK’s leading online marketplace – and IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) have predicted that Sunday 5th December and Monday 6th December will be the UK’s busiest online shopping days of 2010*, with sales for Monday 6th estimated to be 11% higher than November 29th according to figures supplied by the international card fraud prevention and payment processing group Retail Decisions (ReD).
Over 5 million (5.4m) savvy shoppers will log onto eBay.co.uk on ‘Super Sunday’, buying 16 gifts every second – a 15% rise on last year. Avoiding high street crowds, 24 hour access and great deals are all factors behind the increased popularity of online shopping, as we see half a million more gifts bought on eBay this year.
David Smith, Managing Director at IMRG, said: “2010 has been another bumper year for Christmas shopping online according to the trends we are seeing in the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. We estimate that £6.4bn will be spent in December alone, with total sales for November and December set to reach £12.4bn. Sales for ‘Super Sunday’ and ‘Mega Monday’ alone are estimated to reach over half a billion pounds.”
App-y Christmas
Super Sunday will also see a major landmark in the changing face of British shopping – for the first time ever, approximately one item will be bought every second on eBay.co.uk via a mobile or smartphone. More than 45% of Brits say that they are more likely to do their Christmas shopping via their mobiles than last year.
“We’re seeing a significant shift in how people shop at Christmas. Brits are window-shopping the high street, then shopping smart by using their phones to buy the same items for less online” said Ruth Szyszkowski from eBay.
“Customers enjoy the immediate nature of mobile shopping, and the Express Shipping being offered by so many of eBay’s top sellers. From the tap of a screen to choose and pay for an item, to the safety provided by eBay Buyer Protection*, shopping has simply never been easier” said Szyszkowski.
eBay is at the forefront of an explosion in mobile shopping globally, with over £1billion worth of items bought this year via mobile apps, and Brits are leading the way as the keenest mobile shoppers in Europe.
Spend trends
Despite the economic climate, ever-generous Brits will spend an average of £258 on gifts for others this year, with 25% of the population planning to spend over £400. They’re making that budget go far though, with the average person intending to buy 10 presents. Mums are the most prolific present buyers of 2010.
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For further information, interviews with an eBay spokesperson, or photography please contact Shine Communications on 0207 100 7100:
Poppy Lewis: poppy.lewis@shinecom.com
Rachel Byrne: rachel.byrne@shinecom.com
Hollie Adamson: hollie.adamson@shinecom.com
1) Data sources:
- The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index – the industry-leading source for tracking retail spend and trends in the market
- TNS research, October 2010
- Retail Decisions (ReD)
2) eBay specific forecasting method employed: average YOY uplift applied to 2009 Christmas shopping data
3) * Super Sunday is ebay’s busiest trading day. Mega Monday is the busiest trading day for the rest of UK’s ecommerce industry
4) *Paying with PayPal can make you eligible for the added security of eBay Buyer Protection* Please see the eBay Buyer Protection Policy at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/buyer-protection.html for more details.
5) With Express Shipping expected delivery is within two working days
Hottest Items
Super Sunday’s hottest items will be as follows, with top deals flying off eBay’s virtual shelves:
- Call of Duty - Black Ops game
- Xbox 4Gb + FIFA2011 game and games console package
- Paper Jamz Rock Guitar toy
- Take That: Progress Album
- Assassins Creed game
- Play Station 3 games console
- The Inbetweeners Series 1-3 DVD
- Michael Buble: Crazy Love (Hollywood Ed) Album
- LG 32LD320 32" LCD TV - HD Ready Television
About eBay
- Founded in 1999, eBay.co.uk is the UK’s number 1 e-commerce site, providing a platform for over 17.7m unique visitors per month (Nielsen / Netratings, September 2009) to buy and sell new, unique and used items in a fun and easy way
- Far from an online auction house, eBay currently has 17 million live listings on the UK site, with fixed price goods accounting for the majority (56%) of items sold globally
- Sellers of all sizes, including 120,000 registered businesses and 20 high-street retailers use eBay.co.uk to reach the UK’s largest online shopping audience
- eBay supports buyers and sellers by promoting the best value deals through Daily Deals, and the eBay Outlet sells products from well known brands at up to 70% off the recommended retail price. Follow www.twitter.com/eBay_life4less for alerts to great deals on eBay and beyond
- eBay campaigns on the issues affecting buyers and sellers in a number of ways, including the eBay Online Business Index and consumer choice campaigns as featured on http://consumerchoice.eu/uk/
- eBay.co.uk is owned by eBay Inc, which has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, StubHub, Shopping.com, and others