Why December 9 is being tipped as the biggest online shopping day – ever

Sunday December 9 will be the busiest online shopping day ever, according to new figures from eBay, with an industry expert insisting it’s not too late for start-ups to get it on the action.

Approximately 2.3 million Australians are expected to visit eBay on the day – a 26% increase over last year’s busiest online shopping day (December 11), which also fell on a Sunday.

A whopping 300,000 items are expected to be sold on eBay on December 9. This is 17% greater than last year’s busiest online shopping day.

eBay spokesperson Sandy Culkoff says eBay is able to make these predictions based on the number of transactional sales it sees year on year, and the increase in traffic year on year.

These predictions are in line with figures released by the Commonwealth Bank, which has predicted online retailers will experience their highest volume of sales from December 7-10.

This Sunday, an average of more than 200 items will be sold on eBay every minute. A piece of women’s clothing will be sold every five seconds, while a DVD will be sold every nine seconds.

A piece of fashion jewellery will be sold every 12 seconds, a radio-controlled toy every 30 seconds, a pair of women’s shoes every 40 seconds and a watch every 48 seconds.

Meanwhile, Australia Post expects to deliver half a million more parcels across the country in the week following December 9.

Last year, Australia Post delivered an additional three million parcels in December alone.

According to Culkoff, Sunday is a particularly popular day for online shopping because people tend to relax more, if not during the day than in the evening.

With this in mind, Sunday is a good time to start and end auctions on eBay, Culkoff says.

“Evenings play into that as well. Once you’ve put the kids to bed, you’re naturally more inclined to start searching on your mobile,” she says.

“We would say that retailers who are embracing a multichannel approach are the ones that are always going to win the day, so it’s about making sure your products are where the customers are.

“We know the story but people are using mobiles to search for products, compare prices, etc… Australia is one of the biggest nations when it comes to mobile adoption and mobile shopping.”

In preparation for the parcel surge, Australia Post has installed 24/7 parcel lockers in 49 locations across the country.

Over the coming year, these lockers will be rolled out to a further 200 locations.

“More than 2,350 of our retail outlets are also open for extended Christmas hours during the week with the majority trading on Saturdays and more than 375 outlets also open on Sundays,” Richard Umbers, executive general manager of parcels and express services, said in a statement.

“We’re also delivering parcels on weekends to ensure people receive their items in time for Christmas Day.”