Wimbledon influences online shopping searches

Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - 14:00 by Mike Price

British shoppers are particularly susceptible to seasonal trends, as well as allowing impending events to influence their buying habits. And as Wimbledon returns for another year, auction site eBay has published information about how the tennis tournament changes the things that people buy via safe shopping online.

Back in 2013, the firm found that there was a 37 per cent rise in the number of people searching for crochet dresses following Kim Murray’s appearance in one, while watching her husband Andy in the final.

Kim continues to play a big part in determining what garments people search for, as she managed to achieve a big boost for brand Reiss during Wimbledon 2014, indicating that tennis fans are also fashion conscious consumers.

The middle weekend of Wimbledon is the point at which the tournament really gets exciting and people start to think about taking on tennis as a hobby themselves, or at least snapping up some of the sporting brands that make their mark in the sport.

As a result, eBay registers a peak in searches for a number of tennis-related brands, including the likes of Fred Perry and Lacoste, during this period. This has been the trend over the past couple of years and all signs suggest that it will be repeated again in 2015.

The exploits of Andy Murray have helped to rekindle British enthusiasm for tennis in the last half decade and this is certainly having an impact on the industries and brands surrounding the sport.

People are also keen to shop online with eBay, to get hold of items that might not be available elsewhere, since of course, the auction-based platform offered by the site means that it is possible to find rarer items of clothing and tennis memorabilia.