German interest in British fashion has seen country rise to second in the list of top export destinations for British sellers whilst Brits go for a back to basics on Ebay.
Whilst the US remains the number one market for British exporters on Ebay Germany is now in second place, according to data released today by the e-commerce site
German consumers were most interested in iconic British clothing brands, antiques and equipment for outdoor pursuits.
Rob Hattrell, Vice President of eBay in the UK said: “When it comes to shopping trends, if it’s happening in Britain, we’ll see it happening on eBay. Our UK Retail Report 2018, eBay’s third in the UK, gives unparalleled insight into how the nation has shopped over the last year.
With 23 million Brits searching and shopping on eBay every week, we have rich data that reflects the trends influencing our nation’s trends and habits. Today’s eBay Retail Report reflects the value and variety that the 200,000 entrepreneurs operating on our UK marketplace bring to shoppers, both at home and abroad.”
British luxury fashion brands like Burberry and Vivienne Westwood ranked among the most popular search terms for German shoppers.
Clothing retailer Boden and shoe company Crockett Jones were also popular searches, with a combined 9,000 searches every day.
German consumers also turned to the UK for items such as antique clocks, gramophones and taxidermy.
The Brompton folding bicycle was also a popular export product with German consumers, in addition to British car brands such as Jaguar, Mini and Rolls Royce.
When looking at the UK sales it seems that there is a real back to basics movement going on with board games, jigsaws, colouring books, fishing rods and plastic model kits proving an antidote to the computer games, streaming box sets and social media competing for our attention.
On this spike in sales activity Hattrell added: ‘Searches for adult and kids’ fishing rods peaked in April and May, rising nearly threefold on the same period in 2017, as families sought safe places to fish on our rivers and coastlines.
‘This was part of a wider trend towards family outings and staycations, as eBay saw rising sales of four-person tents.
‘Amid concerns over the amount of screen time our children are exposed to, parents are also adopting a “back to basics” approach to extricate their kids from their tablets, with sales of outdoor activity sets like rounders bats, tennis rackets and boules all up by a quarter year on year.’
It added: ‘In the era of computer game phenomena such as Fortnite, Candy Crush and Clash of Clans, fears that board games belong in the attic appear to be misguided.
