skip to main content

2,634 shops listed | Last updated: Friday, March 29, 2024

Monitor Add a site

Another big weekend for e-commerce as Christmas shopping intensifies

Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 10:31 by Graham Miller

Share on

December is proving to be particularly lucrative for e-commerce retailers, with online auction site, eBay, predicting that the weekend of the 7th and 8th was another major period of shopping online for British consumers.

Last week, things got off to a good start with Mega Monday, preceded by Black Friday, which is an event that is gaining momentum in the UK.

Now eBay has revealed that the festive e-commerce boom is actually being extended in 2013 when compared with previous years, as a result of the evolution of safe shopping online.

Customers can now arrange to pick up products on the same day that they order them, thanks to click & collect services, while a growing number of outlets are offering speedy home delivery, sometimes on the same day.

eBay spokesperson, Phuong Nguyen, said that retailers were in a good position to benefit from increased consumer interest this year, although the lengthening of the Christmas shopping period would also require marketing which reflects this, rather than the focused approach deployed in the past.

The rise of online shopping has meant that people are not just buying presents and products in the first half of December, but are continuing to spend right up until December 25th. Then on Boxing Day, the e-commerce rush is revived all over again, as people look to buy accessories for the gifts they have received and spend any money they may have been given by friends and relatives.

eBay revealed that the number of smartphone and tablet users visiting its site on December 2nd was up by 116 per cent, with m-commerce orders up by almost the same amount during the previous weekend. This makes multiplatform shopping a top priority for consumers and retailers in 2013.