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Late night online shopping habits anticipated as World Cup approaches

Friday, May 16, 2014 - 11:44 by Paul Tissington

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A new study from eBay suggests that more people in the UK will be shopping online in the middle of the night this summer, as a result of the impending 2014 World Cup, which is being held in Brazil.

The Drum reports that eBay is basing its predictions on the habits that people have adopted during previous sporting competitions of this kind. Whenever England has had a big match against another international side in the past, the number of people searching its listings for team shirts and other football-related items has increased significantly.

Because people can now shop online from their smartphones, it is easy to search eBay and other sites while sitting on the sofa and watching sports matches. So even with many games scheduled to kick off at times after 11pm at this year?s World Cup, the boost in e-commerce activity seems inevitable.

Another fact revealed by eBay is that the World Cup and similar events which have broad appeal and occur relatively rarely can end up influencing many areas of retail, not just those immediately related to them. For example, back in 2012 there was a 20 per cent rise in queries relating to HDTVs around the time of the European Cup, so the knock-on effect can be significant for retailers.

Of course, it is worth remembering that the always-available nature of shopping sites enables people to check out products and make purchases at any time of the day or night, throughout the year. So while nocturnal shopping activities may increase this summer, there are always plenty of people filling their digital baskets after hours on an average day.

If you do shop online during the World Cup, remember that using a reputable retailer is the best way to avoid disappointment.