There’s still time to do your Christmas shopping online and receive your goods before the big day which is why today (December 12) will be busiest online and mobile shopping day of the year.
eBay is one of the biggest online shopping destinations and it says more than 2.7 million people will visit ebay.com.au alone with 1.7 million doing so on a mobile device.
That’s an increase of 11 per cent over last year with the peak periods expected to be between 8pm and 9pm on desktop and 9pm and 10pm for mobile visitors.
During this period, there will be more than 113 million live eBay listings which is 64 per cent more than 2015.
And shoppers who opt for the Click and Collect service – which is where you can get your items sent to your nearest Woolworths or Big W for pick up – will increase by 51 per cent this year.
The cutoff date for online shoppers to purchase and receive the items before Christmas has been reported as December 16.
Here are the product predictions for eBay:
– A VR Head Set to sell every 2 minutes
– A Star Wars related item to sell every 33 seconds
– A bicycle to sell every 5 minutes
– A pool inflatable to sell every 90 seconds
– A smart watch to sell every 50 seconds
– A GHD Hair care item to sell every 8 minutes
– An Apple product to sell every 55 seconds
– A Pokémon item to sell every 16 seconds
– A Pie Face game to sell every 5 minutes
– Off the shoulder tops to sell every 2 minutes
– Speak Out to sell every 8 minutes
– A Jewellery item to sell every 3 seconds
– A pet related item to sell every 10 seconds
– A toy to sell every 4 seconds
– A Health and Beauty item to sell 3 seconds
And here are most active postcodes of eBay shoppers:
– Werribee – VIC
– Toowoomba – QLD
– Truganina – VIC
– Liverpool – NSW
– Campbelltown – NSW
– Mackay – QLD
So why are we going online to shop? There’s a few reasons but biggest two are avoiding the stress of finding a parking spot and avoiding the long lines at the checkouts.
A survey by Aussie Farmers Direct, the fresh food and grocery delivery service, found that 82 per cent of Australians were planning to do some or all their Christmas shopping online.
Some other key findings from the survey include:
– 23.9 per cent of Australians were stressed by the temptation towards impulse purchases while Christmas shopping in-store
– Most Australians (63.5 per cent) are expecting to spend between 3-5 hours doing Christmas shopping in-store this year
– Men are far more efficient when it comes to their Christmas shopping, with nearly half (47.5 per cent) expecting to spend three hours or less on this task
– Nearly 1 in 5 Australians are skipping the in-store Christmas shopping experience altogether
– Nearly a third of millennials (32 per cent) are planning on doing their Christmas shopping online this year, compared with 22 per cent of Generation Xers and 14 per cent of baby boomers.
But what about staying safe online? Just as there are millions of shoppers online there are also thousands of hackers who want to take advantage of the increase in traffic.
Internet security company Norton has come up with the best tips for staying safe online.
– If it is too good to be true, it probably is. Be aware of the cheap price tag as free or discounted goods could end up being costly. So, if you have found the latest hot designer shoes, but for a tenth of the price, they are probably not real. Only shop at reputable online sites and avoid getting your credit card scammed.
– Beware of fake website links. Do not click on links in an email that appear to come from your favourite online store. Instead type the store’s address into your browser to avoid going to a malicious website.
– Be smart with your passwords. Protect your accounts with strong, unique passwords that use a combination of at least 10 upper and lowercase letters, symbols and numbers to help keep the bad guys at bay. Make it difficult for attackers to access your information by changing your passwords every three months and not reusing passwords for multiple accounts.
– Beware of phishing scams. Think twice before opening unsolicited messages or attachments, particularly from people you don’t know, or clicking on random links. The message may be from a cybercriminal who has compromised your friend or family member’s email or social media accounts.
– Organise your online shopping. Set up an email account specifically to deal with online shopping. Provide as little information as possible to get the account set-up and don’t use it for anything else such as online banking, business correspondence or family matters.
– Protect your bank details. Always look out for the ‘padlock’ icon or the Norton Secured Seal when making a payment online. These symbols indicate that the website you are visiting uses encryption to protect you, so cybercriminals cannot capture your personal information. Never let a website ‘remember’ your credit card details, always retype them if you want to shop there again.
– Online payments. Even though it is the season of goodwill, avoid using public or shared computers, or even a wireless network to make a payment online. Hackers can easily capture your account information, log-in details and steal your money. Use a separate credit card with a small credit limit for online purchases.
– Is your internet security software up-to-date? Update your security software regularly, especially during the festive season. Cybercriminals are more sophisticated than ever before and they will jump on any social trend to spread malware and steal your personal details.
– Check your statements. Always check your credit card statements to look out for unexpected transactions.
1 Comment
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