Sun seekers push year round trend in shopping searches

Tuesday, October 6, 2015 - 10:14 by Graham Miller

New figures from online auction giant, eBay, have revealed that in spite of days getting shorter and temperatures dropping across the UK, there is still a buoyant market for products relating to sunny getaways, when looking at the items people search for via safe shopping online.

The firm’s British site registered a 31 per cent increase in people looking for bikinis, while inquiries about flip flops almost doubled. This is being seen as evidence that Brits are keen to avoid the winter blues and are, instead, choosing to jet off to warmer climes at this time of year.

This trend works in both directions. Even in the height of summer this year, there was a spike in the number of people looking for items to buy, to help them out on holidays involving winter sports, including skiing and snowboarding. So either people are preparing well in advance of future trips, or they are choosing to fly to parts of the world that are currently experiencing the climatic conditions that they need to enjoy a holiday to the fullest.

Even with the availability of safe shopping online making it possible for people to shop for affordable overseas trips and clothing for the beach or the mountainside alike, eBay’s figures reveal that the weather in the UK itself is still a big factor in determining the type of products that people want to buy.

In April of this year, there was a 20 per cent rise in the number of tents sold by eBay, which is being attributed to the fact that this month was the sunniest seen since records began. So the availability of online impulse buys influenced by persistent periods of unseasonable weather is something that retailers and consumers have accepted.