eBay gearing up for its busiest shopping day of the year

Today is shaping up as the busiest day for online shopping ahead of Christmas. eBay alone will have 2.7 million visitors with more than 1.8 million visiting through mobile devices.

With two weeks left till Christmas, shoppers still have a chance to order online and have their packages delivered in time.

eBay, Australia’s largest online shopping destination, is gearing up for its biggest day of the year where five gifts expected to be sold per second on the platform.

And this year we will see a change in shopper behaviour with desktop sales peaking between 1pm and 2pm while mobile sales will peak between 9pm and 10pm.

The 15 minutes between 9pm and 9:15pm is expected to see the highest volume of online purchasing ever on eBay in Australia.

In this period, just in mobile devices alone, eight items will be purchased every second.

An electronics item will be sold every second and a Star Wars and Apple item will sell every minute.

And the good news is more than half of the items (56 per cent) will be purchased from local sellers.

The most active shoppers around the country are located in regional areas with Toowoomba in Queensland and Werribee in Victoria leading the way.

Other areas punching above their weight include Liverpool in NSW, Mackay in Queensland and Truganina in Victoria.

Also available from today will be the new eBay voice powered Gift Finder.

Shoppers will be able to use Google Assistant and sort through curated items to narrow down a gift choice that will suit their friends or families.

The Gift Finder will ask a series of questions to understand the recipient and then recommend products for them.

It will identify favourite cities, preferred entertainment and ideal holidays to help narrow down the gift options.

“Australians are leading the way when it comes to mobile shopping globally and with 70 per cent of all traffic on eBay coming from a mobile, it’s no surprise that this year’s busiest online shopping day will break mobile records,” says Gavin Dennis, eBay’s chief financial officer and head of retail insights.

“We know inspiration can come from anywhere, at any time, so we’ve partnered with Google to open up new and intuitive ways to search and shop.

“eBay has a long-standing history as an innovator in Australia, continually looking for ways to enhance the customer experience.

“eBay was the first marketplace to offer voice assisted shopping, and the expansion of our partnership with Google to create the eBay Gift Finder shows the remarkable power of this technology for the retail landscape.

“We are launching the eBay Gift Finder today, because we know there’s always that one person who is difficult to buy for and we want to simplify the process, helping people when they don’t know where to start.”

Here are the stats which are expected to make today, December 11, eBay’s busiest online shopping day of the year.

Site wide:

• 2.7 million people will visit the site
• 92% of items will be brand new
• Busiest shopping hour: 9pm – 10pm
• Busiest 15-minute period: 9pm – 9.15pm
• 92 million listings to choose from
• 5 gifts per second will be sold site wide

Via mobile:

• 92% of items will be brand new
• Roughly 1.8 million visitors via mobile devices (5% higher than last year)
• 3 gifts per second will be sold on mobile
• Mobile spending to peak between 9.00pm and 9.15pm

Product predictions:

• An electronics item to sell every second
• A piece of jewellery to sell every 3 seconds
• A toy to sell every 3 seconds
• A health and beauty item to sell every 3 seconds
• A pet care item to sell every 9 seconds
• An Apple product to sell every 60 seconds
• A Star Wars item to sell every 60 seconds

Most Active Post Codes:

• Toowoomba – QLD
• Werribee – VIC
• Liverpool – NSW
• Mackay – QLD
• Truganina – VIC