The lipstick effect has hit British homes as sales of luxury door knockers jump by 322% on eBay.co.uk. Sales of the lowly doorbell have dropped by 98% year on year, as Brits opt to give their homes a fresh look during a tough start to 2013.
Middle-class brass knockers are claiming the top spot as the nation’s favourite, with sales up 375%, year on year. But it doesn’t stop there, showcasing their wild side Brits are snapping up animal styled knockers, from lions to horses, in their droves with sales up by 124%.
eBay spokesman, Steven Heywood says, “We have always been known as a proud nation however it appears that the lipstick effect has spread to our homes as we give our front porches a quick and easy face lift this spring.”
Ends
eBay in the UK
- Founded in 1999, eBay.co.uk is the UK’s largest online marketplace, providing a platform for over 17 million unique visitors per month[1] to buy and sell new, unique and used items.
- There are around 60 million live listings on the UK site, which has tripled from 20 million in 2009.[2]
- One in two online buyers in the UK visits eBay.co.uk every month.[3]
- eBay.co.uk receives around as many visitors per month as London’s Oxford Street.[4]
- Nearly twice as many people visit eBay.co.uk every month than visit the UK’s four leading shopping centres in the same period.[5]
- eBay is consistently one of the most visited UK retail sites, with around a 15% share of total UK online shopping visits.[6]
- 190,000 registered businesses are currently trading on the site – up from 120,000 in 2009.
eBay mobile
- eBay mobile applications are available in more than 190 countries and eight languages.
- Globally, eBay is predicting $10 billion of transactions taking place via a mobile device in 2012.
- eBay mobile apps have been downloaded over 90 million times globally.
- In the UK an item is purchased every second on eBay via a mobile device.
- The most expensive items recently bought on eBay mobile in the UK were a Porsche 911 Carrera and Land Rover Evoque both being purchased for around £40,000.
eBay for Charity
- The eBay for Charity programme has raised over £41 million for over 7,000 Charities since 2006
[1] Nielsen Netview March 2012
[2] eBay internal data (Daily Live Listing Count)
[3] Six out ten adults shop online (OECD report, The Future of the Internet Economy, 2012)
[4] London Oxford Street has on average 18.49 million visitors a month (Westminster City Council).
[5] Bluewater, 2.3 million average visitors a month; Lakeside, 2 million average visitors a month; Westfield Stratford, 3.87 million average visitors a month; Westfield London, 2.25 million average visitors a month. (Data from their own websites).
[6] Experian Hitwise August 11, 2012