New research from online marketplace eBay reveals that Brits will be spending £104.4 billion* on technology gifts this Christmas. That’s 116 million* individual tech-related presents that will be unwrapped - and set up - on Christmas Day this year.
eBay has seen sales of the following popular tech products hit the roof as people gear themselves up for another big tech-Christmas: **
- Tablets & ebooks: 78,785 (7.8 per minute)
- Laptops & notebooks: 78,583 (7.8 per minute)
- Mobile phones: 67,493 (6.6 per minute)
- Smart phones: 47,679 (4.7 per minute)
- Digital cameras: 12,624 (1.3 per minute)
- Speakers: 39,440 (3.9 per minute)
- Headphones: 46,926 (4.7 per minute)
- Smartwatches: 16,970 (1.7 per minute)
With such a huge investment in tech this year, a new role at Christmas is emerging; the Technoël – the person designated on Christmas Day (knowingly or unknowingly) to set up all the technology.
The Technoël is considered more important than the person organising the games, the one in charge of the Christmas Day playlist - and more needed than the roles of gift distributer and drinks pourer. The only two roles ranked higher in the poll were ‘the cook’ and the ‘festive cheerleader’.
Christmas Day 2016 - Roles of Importance:
1) The Cook
2) Festive Cheerleader
3) The Technoël
4) Booze Bringer
5) Gift Distributor
6) The Cleaner Up
7) Last Man Standing
8) Pace Maker
9) Games Guru
10) Playlist Decider
eBay’s research also reveals this year’s typical Technoël will be a Dad aged 40 years old. And the nation is ready with various strategies to keep their Technoël in the best frame of mind for the job; 26% will assign them a quiet space to work, 23% will offer regular words of encouragement - and one in five aim to keep annoying family members away.
With Brits anticipating they’ll allocate up to two hours on the big day to get their tech up and running, over three quarters (77%) of those interviewed said they already have a nominated Technoël in mind.
Tom Sheppard, head of electronics, eBay UK says; “Tech has never been bigger. Last Christmas we sold 4,300 headphones a day in the 3 month build up to Christmas and 330 mobiles and smartphones every single hour**. The Technoël role has never been more important – and that’s why this year we’re encouraging Brits to look after their nominated person, giving them the space, motivation and equipment they need so that Christmas Day festive cheer lives long into the night.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is a global commerce leader including the Marketplace, StubHub and Classifieds platforms. Collectively, we connect millions of buyers and sellers around the world, empowering people and creating opportunity through Connected Commerce. Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay is one of the world's largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and unique selection. In 2015, eBay enabled $82 billion of gross merchandise volume
eBay / OnePoll research conducted with 2,000 UK adults November 2016
*Figures based on an average of £203.66 spent on an average of 2.26 technology gifts per person and population size of 51.3million
** Items sold on ebay.co.uk between 6th and 12th December
***eBay internal data from ebay.co.uk
For more information, please contact eBay@launchpr.co.uk or call 0207 758 3900