Online retailers eBay and Amazon saw huge sales growth over the Christmas period, new research has revealed.
According to research from e-commerce software company ChannelAdvisor, eBay sales were up 36.6 per cent year-on-year on Christmas Day 2012, while Amazon UK sales increased by 27.7 per cent.
On Boxing Day, eBay saw sales rise by 49.3 per cent year-on-year and Amazon recorded an increase of 44.7 per cent.
Commenting on the figures, Seamus Whittingham, Managing Director, EMEA at ChannelAdvisor, said: “E-commerce played an important part in Christmas shopping as many shoppers seemed to get online and take advantage of great bargains, resulting in rocketing same-store sales figures for our customers.
“Shoppers now have the technology to shop very speedily and from anywhere.”
Whittingham also revealed that Amazon‘s Christmas Day sales have surged by 263 per cent in the last five years, a number which he believes will continue to rise.
Even when not shopping, increasing numbers of people are accessing the internet on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as the latest Online Christmas Activity survey from eDigitalResearch and IMRG shows.
Of the 2,000 respondents, 89 per cent went online on at least one of the two days, and 65 per cent accessed the internet on both, up from around 59 per cent in 2011. Christmas television remained important, but 42 per cent of people browsed the internet while they watched, an activity known as ‘second screening‘.
Presenting this change in behaviour as an exciting development for multichannel retailers, Derek Eccleston, Head of Research at eDigitalResearch, commented: “Nowadays when someone sees a product being advertised or something that catches their eye on TV, the first thing they are likely to do is to reach for their Internet enabled device and search for it online.
“This provides brands and retailers the opportunity to reach people during one of the few traditionally non-shopping days a year and make a genuine and real impact on sales.
“It is therefore imperative that brands integrate all channels, including their marketing messages, to make sure that everything from their website and mobile app to their TV adverts, are aligned.”
