EBay predicts busiest online shopping day before Christmas
Monday, December 3, was tipped to be the busiest online shopping day in the lead-up to Christmas, according to eBay, which predicted 2.6 million people would visit its online marketplace, 1.8 million of them on a mobile device.
The online marketplace expected an average of four gifts to be purchased every second, with most customers shopping after work in the evening.
“Aussies are getting a head start on Christmas and this year, the busiest online shopping day is a full week earlier than the past few years,” eBay head of retail insights Gavin Dennis said.
“We’re seeing people take advantage of great deals throughout November and early December to take some of the stress out of the Christmas period.”
The most popular categories were expected to be electronics, health and beauty, toys and jewellery, and more than half of all purchases were expected to be made by Australian sellers.
During the day, eBay expected a health and beauty item to sell every two seconds, a toy every three seconds, a bottle of alcohol every 42 seconds and an iPhone every 90 seconds.
The Australian Retailers Association has forecast Australians will spend more than $51 billion over the holiday period.
“The electronics and hi-fi markets are worth a considerable $3 billion, and the ARA suspect gaming consoles and smart home technology products will be flying off the shelves this Christmas,” ARA executive director Russell Zimmerman said.
EBay has been contacted to clarify sales statistics from Monday.
This is an edited version of a story that appeared on sister-site Inside Retail Australia.
Comment Manually
You must be logged in to post a comment.
No comments