Overindulgence and Christmas may go hand in hand, but eBay’s insight shows that the festive period is by no means the only time of year when the nation splurges on high-end items. January and March offer huge potential for brands to grow their share of wallet as shoppers stop buying for other people, and prepare to indulge.
At eBay Advertising, we analysed consumer shopping patterns across a basket of 10 luxury items – including designer fashion, jewellery and technology – to reveal when and how the nation is treating itself.
Having splashed out on Christmas gifts for loved ones at the end of 2013, consumers turned to spoiling themselves last January. During this month, there were over 15m searches for our basket of luxury items, making it second only to the Christmas spike recorded the previous November and December. One luxury watch brand alone was searched for 900,000 times.
Interestingly, men proved to be most inclined to indulge, with eBay.co.uk recording 2m more searches for the basket of luxury items by men than women in January 2014. Within this group, the 45-54 year-old age group led the way, making over 380,000 searches for eBay’s collection of indulgence items.
Our insight also suggests that there is a peak in high-end purchases in March, perhaps as a result of the annual bonus season. eBay recorded more than h500,000 searches for Louboutin shoes in March, nearly double the figure that Christmas shoppers clocked up in December. Meanwhile, searches for Gucci also jumped by 116%, compared with the previous month.
Luxury brands have significant opportunities to target indulgence shoppers throughout the calendar year, and marketers must ensure they look beyond the festive period when allocating budgets. Tailoring campaigns to align with shifts in shopper behaviours will give brands a competitive advantage that lasts long after the Christmas decorations have been put away.
Phuong Nguyen is director of eBay Advertising in the UK
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