Poor August weather could kickstart Christmas shopping rush predicts eBay
EBay Advertising has predicted an early wave of Christmas shoppers in the UK if the weather proves to be poor this month.
Insight from the e-commerce giant suggests there will be a spike in Christmas-related searches on the site if the UK endures another wet and windy month. Referring to data from August 2014, Christmas searches spiked during Hurricane Bertha.
With the Met Office expecting another wave of poor weather, eBay hopes to emulate the 82 per cent spike for ‘Christmas stocking’ which occurred 9/10 August 2014.
Similar during the same period searches for “Christmas tree” and “tinsel” rose by 61 per cent and 54 per cent.
Phuong Nguyen, director of eBay Advertising UK, said: “If our Christmas Tracker shows one thing, it’s that there’s no longer a set gifting season in the months preceding Christmas.
“Consumers are shopping how and when they want to, and if bad weather turns shoppers’ attention to Christmas in the summer, they expect the freedom to start their purchase journey there and then.”
To mark the start of the Christmas rush, eBay Advertising also released its 2015 Christmas Tracker, to help brands better plan their campaigns in the run up to the festive period.