Electronics Accessories, Coffee Makers and Casual Shoes Favorite After-Holiday Gifts

BOSTON, Dec. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Evoqu, the developer of mobile-shopping service ShopAdvisor, released shopping behavior data that shows big shifts in buying patterns once Santa Claus finished delivering all his presents. Children's toys dropped from the top categories; comfort items such as coffee makers and men's casual shoes made an appearance in the top ten categories, and engagement ring shopping spiked.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111228/NE28035 )

Based on a sample of 1,882 shopping transactions during the 2-day period from Christmas day to Dec. 26 using ShopAdvisor, Evoqu discovered the following trends:

• No more dolls after Christmas. Educational toys and Dolls were hot items among the top ten product categories from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, with 3.0% and 1.7% of all shopping activity, respectively, but they vanished from the list once Christmas day arrived. Also, game consoles and accessories (1.8%), watches (1.4%) and laptops (1.4%) were top ten items that fell from the list once all the presents under the tree were opened.   
• Men all-night gaming during the break? Five new items broke into the ShopAdvisor top ten product categories list on Christmas and the day after. Portable device accessories (2.5%), Xbox games (2.4%), and headphones (1.4%) were bunched up, along with coffee makers & grinders (2.4%), and men's casual shoes (1.8%). While it is possible no strong correlation exists among these five items, there is a plausible scenario in which men in house slippers and strung out on caffeine are indulging in a marathon game session.   
• December 25 is the start of Engagement Ring season. On December 25 and 26, there was a tenfold increase in the percentage of shopping activity for engagement rings, compared to the entire month prior to Christmas.
• TVs, Women's Shoes – still timeless. Five items remained in the bull's-eye of consumer shopping activity. Plasma & LCD TVs and women's boots are just as popular before Christmas (4.7% and 3.1%, respectively) as in the day after (5.5% and 3.8%). Also sustaining popularity among consumers are digital cameras (3.7% before, 3.8% after), tablets & e-readers (3.1% and 1.9%), and men's athletic shoes (1.5% and 3.0%).
• Barcoding after the fact. Among ShopAdvisor users, the barcode scan function was used to find product price and other info 5.7% of the time in the month prior to Christmas. However, that percentage nearly doubled to 10.2% of all product searches on Christmas day and the day after, suggesting that gift recipients were using barcode scans to do some post-purchase price checking.

Capture, Advise and Alert

Unlike other shopping apps that focus on price comparisons in a store, ShopAdvisor is a shopping list that works for the consumer. The heart of ShopAdvisor is the WatchList, where users save gift and purchase ideas for later. ShopAdvisor keeps track of all those items, constantly searching for changes in price and availability. When the price shifts, ShopAdvisor alerts the user.

ShopAdvisor runs as a standalone app on iOS, Android, and also on the web.

To obtain a copy of ShopAdvisor visit the following

• Evoqu website: http://www.evoqu.com
• Link to iPhone app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shopadvisor/id452689128?mt=8  
• Link to Android app: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.evoqu.atlantis  
• Link to ShopAdvisor web shopping: http://www.shopadvisor.com/

About Evoqu
Evoqu, Inc., established in 2011, is a Boston-based software and services developer specializing in mobile shopping. The company focuses on the deferred purchase market, the time between a consumer's initial interest in a product and the eventual purchase. Evoqu partners with leading eCommerce service providers to create solutions for consumers. 

SOURCE Evoqu