EBay: ‘Marketers cannot afford to miss out on Xmas long-listers’

Marketers are failing to tap into consumers already starting to put their early Christmas ‘gift lists’ together, as research from eBay reveals that consumers begin researching such purchase as early as May.

Ebay

The ecommerce giant’s advertising arm has published a study showing there were more than 150,000 UK searches for “Christmas” on its site between May and June this year, as consumers  begin contemplating their seasonal gifts ahead of the holiday, a behaviour eBay Advertising calls “long-listing”.

The study also shows that from September to December 2012, there were over a quarter of a million searches for the generic term “Christmas presents”, plus 170,000 searches for “stocking fillers”, with eBay adding that marketers “can’t afford to miss out” on influencing these “long-listers” as they start to finalise their purchase decisions.

EBay also recommends marketers begin tailoring their messaging for the ‘gifting market’ as early as October, as this is typically when they start to research purchases for others.

For instance, the study shows the number of searches for “lingerie” by men began to rise in October last year, with the number of such searches leaping by 23 per cent in November. Similarly, the number of searches for neck-ties by women jumped 25 per cent during the same period, according to eBay’s log data.

Phuong Nguyen, head of eBay Advertising in the UK, says: “By observing online behaviour in the run-up to Christmas, brands can identify and differentiate between undecided Christmas ‘gifters’ and people who are shopping for themselves.

“The ability to pinpoint what stage of the gifting cycle shoppers are at – from long-listing through to short-listing and purchase – also allows for greater segmentation and more effective targeting.”

 

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