eBay survey reveals how to influence holiday shoppers

A new survey from eBay Ads reveals how retailers can engage and convert consumers doing their holiday shopping.

According to the annual 2023 eBay Ads Holiday Report, 79% of 3,000 surveyed consumers spend a lot of time exploring their options before making holiday gift purchase decisions. Four in 10 (39%) say they may be swayed by online advertisements for their holiday purchase decisions.

One in three respondents say they are very influenced by ads, meaning that more than 50% of gifts they purchase are different from what they originally intended to purchase, due to ads during the holidays. This percentage rises to almost half (47%) of 35-44 year old shoppers.

In addition, over half (54%) of all respondents feel more confident about holiday gift choices when they are chosen from ads. A similar percentage (55%) expect to spend more than planned on holiday-related expenses in 2023, including 69% of respondents in the 35-to-44-year-old age bracket.

Within the 35-to-44-year-old age bracket, a cohort of respondents eBay terms “holiday decision-makers,” only (15%) will use the biggest chunk of their holiday spend on clothing and accessories purchases for themselves.

eBay-specific findings

Looking at holiday shopping trends on the eBay e-commerce platform, the survey found that the top categories more than 1,500 eBay shoppers surveyed as part of the larger respondent sampling are likely to shop for this holiday season include toys and games (79%), fashion (78%), health and beauty (77%), holiday and seasonal (73%), consumer electronics: new items only (72%).

Close to six in 10 (58%) of surveyed eBay shoppers are likely to shop shop in the “Consumer electronics: eBay Refurbished” category, while 56% are likely to shop in the “Consumer electronics: used, open box” category.

[Read more: CSA Exclusive: eBay exec discusses Refurbished storefront]

Other findings

• Seven in 10 (71%) respondents begin their holiday shopping on online marketplaces.
• Close to half (46%) of respondents who wait to make holiday purchases later in the season do so in hopes of scoring last-minute deals for their purchases. (46%).
• An overall average of one in five respondents do holiday shopping for themselves on eBay.

eBay Ads conducted a shopper survey that included over 3,000 participants, inclusive of more than 1,500 eBay buyers.