We’re a generous bunch here in the UK, never more so than at Christmas. Things may be different this year, but we’re still all desperate to find those perfect gifts for the ones that we love. According to Betway, as Brits, we spend an astonishing £20 billion on Christmas gifts.
As our generosity has increased, our spending habits have changed: once over, when looking at where do we do our Christmas shopping, we couldn’t have failed to mention High Street greats and shopping centres where we flocked in our hundreds of thousands. Today, especially with 2020 being a rather unique year, we are turning more and more towards online when seeking out Christmas gifts.
The ultimate market place
When you mention Christmas shopping, the first place that springs to mind has to be Amazon. From humble beginnings in 1994, when all that they sold was second-hand books, who could have ever believed that it would grow to become what it is today: the go-to place for, well, practically everything.
Whatever you’re looking for at Christmas, and whatever the perfect gift means to you, Amazon is sure to have it. What Amazon has done is to do away with the need to trek around numerous shops, or even visit numerous websites: when you arrive at the home page of Amazon, you can be sure that you are going to find exactly what you want for Christmas.
For something a little more personal
With Amazon, you can be sure to find almost anything, but when seeking a special Christmas present, something unique and made to order, Amazon isn’t the place to be. For that personal gift, Etsy has to be the most popular place to shop for Christmas.
Etsy itself boasts that their sellers ” Put their heart and soul into making something special,” and this is a message that seems to resonate with buyers across the UK, especially at Christmas. In 2005, when Etsy first launched, it reported sales of £1 million. Fast-forward to 2019, and this has grown to £5 billion!
The original (but not necessarily the best)
There was once a time that if you wanted to buy online, the place to go was eBay. Like Etsy, eBay doesn’t sell its own products: instead, it is a marketplace for independent sellers to offer their wares. With a rating system weighted heavily in favour of the buyer, and PayPal being one of the most secure online payment methods, eBay is still popular today.
Much like Amazon, with eBay, you can find practically any Christmas gift you desire. Since 1999, eBay has seen a multitude of changes, but still remains one of the most popular places for Christmas shopping.
2020 and beyond
This year has signalled a change: the High Street was already falling, but this year has only added to its demise. People who had loved the experience of ‘real’ shops and the Christmas atmosphere have been forced to turn online in the quest for Christmas gifts. Having seen just how easy it is, online market places are sure to soar in popularity for Christmas shopping in the years to come.