Checking the Cotton Books – Spreadshirt’s Trend Report 28 / October 2010
Berlin/Boston/Leipzig, October 26th 2010: A global analysis of online shopping has revealed that American shoppers make their online purchases around the clock, whereas most Europeans sleep sound and tight at night. Only a small minority tend to fill their virtual shopping carts at an unlikely hour, like nocturnal shoppers in Bremen (Germany) or Italians during their siesta.
One year ago, trend report 28 looked into the question which countries like spending their money at a particular time. Now we were curious as to whether shoppers have changed their shopping habits. When do people fill their baskets and proceed to checkout today?
Germany
2010 was a year to report a drop in t-shirt sales in the early hours of the afternoon. German employers have evidently responded to rumours that their staff put their blissful t-shirt endeavours first when at work. It seems that quite a few bosses have spoken some barbed words of warning to emphasize on their company’s prosperity in Spreadshirt’s home country.
For whatever reason the Germans won’t do as much shopping as they used to in the afternoon, they obviously pool their shopping for different times of the day. Most of the purchasing activity is on record between 7—10pm. Then the lure of activities involving TV and bed appear to become rather irresistible. The mouse-click finger needs a rest eventually!
However, it’s not all schnitzel and lederhosen in Germany. Their shopping behaviour is as regional diverse as their local cuisine and regional diversity. In Saxony and the Rhine area, people tend to get up rather early to get their first top of the day, whereas a Mecklenburger from northern Germany usually waits until some time in the afternoon. Brandenburg and Hanover start boosting the cotton economy in the evening, and the northern city of Bremen only comes to life at night. Why ever that is, it’s alright as long as they shop from home and at Spreadshirt!
Britain and Europe
Generally speaking, the shopping times have remained more or less the same all over Europe. Italians like making purchases in the afternoon and find something else to do after 5pm. Most Europeans wait until the evening before they boot up their computers and start filling their virtual shopping baskets. Germans do more shopping in the morning than other nations, but tend to slow down in the afternoon. It is a remarkable fact that Britons show a shopping behaviour similar to that of their more southern fellow Europeans in Spain – people in both countries seize the hours of the night more than elsewhere. In both countries, a quarter of the total cotton shopping is carried out between 10pm and 4am.
North America
On the other side of the pond, most people do less shopping in the morning. Americans and Canadians gingerly await ‘quitting time’ and put a lot of apparel into their online baskets between 4—6pm. Driving home on the freeway, they have plenty of time to come to terms with their decisions. Then it may take until much later that evening or even until dusk has turned into dawn over Cape Canaveral before they spend the Yankee dollar.
And of course, America is a melting pot for all types of folks – there are shopaholics and nighthawks as well as early rooster birds. The Colorado cowboy takes delight in indulging in the Pueblo Ballroom Dance whereas the nocturnal wife in Minnesota spends long Blizzard nights online to find the perfect sweater just before midnight. At last, night owls in Arizona, Indiana and Florida eventually find their way to the online register between 2—4am.
This report is designed to deliver a monthly insight into new trends in the universe of individualised clothing.
further trend reports
