Late night e-commerce usage rises

Thursday, December 13, 2012 - 09:43 by Mike Price

More UK consumers than ever before are taking to the internet to carry out safe shopping online, while the rest of the nation slumbers, according to a study published by Amazon.

The reason behind this, it seems, is the growing number of new parents who are looking for a way to fill the time in the wee hours, after they have been awoken by a baby.

In fact, 78 per cent more baby products were sold overnight this year than last, which means that parents may only just be cottoning on to the idea that e-commerce can soothe them back to sleep.

Amazon provided a list of over 2,000 products which are at their most popular overnight, rather than during the daylight. This includes the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, Adele's latest album and, least surprising of all, a blackout blind that can be attached anywhere.

Using safe shopping online is now only marginally less popular than reading a book in the middle of the night. It is more popular than switching on the telly or tuning into a radio, according to Amazon's findings.

Meanwhile, the least common night time activity is exercise, which is used by just one per cent of us to cure our restlessness or to sleep it off after the baby has been disturbed.

The study also found that traditional gender roles remain disappointingly intact, with mums getting up twice as much as dads to comfort the kids and help them get to sleep.

Although the study did not provide data on it, you can imagine that more people are using e-commerce in the middle of the night because they are granted access to it via a smartphone or tablet, which can of course be used easily in bed, without waking a partner.