How is UK ecommerce search changing? Three years of search data
UK shoppers are searching differently than they did three years ago. Searches for Vinted rose 39% between 2023–24 and 2025–26, while eBay fell 17% and most big UK retailers fell by 15–28%. “click and collect” and “next day delivery” searches grew by around a third. And “voucher code” searches more than halved.
The figures are monthly UK search estimates from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer for 45 shopping searches, from September 2023 to August 2026. I compared three 12-month periods: September 2023 to August 2024, the same months a year later, and September 2025 to August 2026.
Which marketplaces and retailers are growing?
Marketplace and retailer searches, three years apart
Change in UK searches, Sep 2023–Aug 2024 to Sep 2025–Aug 2026
- Vinted +39%
- AliExpress +18%
- Temu +9%
- Amazon −6%
- Currys −15%
- John Lewis −16%
- eBay −17%
- Argos −18%
- Etsy −20%
- Shein −23%
- Facebook Marketplace −26%
- ASOS −28%
- Depop −36%
View as a table
| Search | Sep 2023 to Aug 2024 | Sep 2025 to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinted | 19,610,129 | 27,265,789 | +39% |
| AliExpress | 6,493,913 | 7,687,238 | +18% |
| Temu | 18,597,068 | 20,186,304 | +9% |
| Amazon | 138,504,035 | 130,497,911 | −6% |
| Currys | 24,123,967 | 20,411,797 | −15% |
| John Lewis | 15,181,888 | 12,725,603 | −16% |
| eBay | 53,613,581 | 44,651,768 | −17% |
| Argos | 60,720,083 | 49,749,230 | −18% |
| Etsy | 28,717,903 | 22,946,601 | −20% |
| Shein | 39,833,066 | 30,697,457 | −23% |
| Facebook Marketplace | 11,394,371 | 8,488,158 | −26% |
| ASOS | 8,482,638 | 6,099,074 | −28% |
| Depop | 2,199,882 | 1,414,907 | −36% |
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer · UK · September 2026
- Vinted is the big riser. Searches grew from about 19.6 million to 27.3 million a year, and August 2026 was its busiest month in the three years.
- Temu grew, Shein fell. Temu searches rose 9%, while Shein fell 23%.
- Amazon and eBay are down over three years. Amazon fell 6% and eBay 17%. Amazon recovered a little in the latest year, up 3% on the year before.
- UK retailers mostly fell. Argos searches fell 18%, John Lewis 16%, Currys 15% and ASOS 28%.
- Other second-hand apps fell. Depop fell 36% and Facebook Marketplace 26%, so Vinted’s growth isn’t the whole second-hand market growing at the same rate.
Is Vinted catching up with eBay?
Vinted is catching up with eBay
Monthly UK searches for each name, September 2023 to August 2026
- Vinted, three years
- +39%
- eBay, three years
- −17%
- Vinted as a share of eBay
- 37% → 61%
- eBay
- Vinted
View as a table
| Month | eBay | Vinted |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2023 | 4,560,458 | 1,570,736 |
| Oct 2023 | 4,845,798 | 1,707,275 |
| Nov 2023 | 5,110,550 | 1,709,511 |
| Dec 2023 | 4,427,396 | 1,426,009 |
| Jan 2024 | 4,833,287 | 1,683,142 |
| Feb 2024 | 4,337,477 | 1,587,763 |
| Mar 2024 | 4,588,431 | 1,689,113 |
| Apr 2024 | 4,246,221 | 1,698,395 |
| May 2024 | 4,487,235 | 1,682,689 |
| Jun 2024 | 4,051,009 | 1,658,774 |
| Jul 2024 | 4,045,841 | 1,494,372 |
| Aug 2024 | 4,079,878 | 1,702,350 |
| Sep 2024 | 3,906,729 | 1,998,921 |
| Oct 2024 | 4,299,914 | 1,934,446 |
| Nov 2024 | 4,317,155 | 1,802,441 |
| Dec 2024 | 3,914,123 | 1,468,736 |
| Jan 2025 | 4,164,320 | 1,526,487 |
| Feb 2025 | 3,948,572 | 1,596,412 |
| Mar 2025 | 4,143,769 | 1,788,910 |
| Apr 2025 | 3,787,371 | 1,743,860 |
| May 2025 | 3,808,932 | 1,812,154 |
| Jun 2025 | 3,799,806 | 1,820,338 |
| Jul 2025 | 3,870,361 | 1,745,457 |
| Aug 2025 | 3,979,965 | 2,030,038 |
| Sep 2025 | 3,880,060 | 2,257,951 |
| Oct 2025 | 4,019,813 | 2,293,166 |
| Nov 2025 | 3,796,474 | 2,302,999 |
| Dec 2025 | 3,559,731 | 1,886,398 |
| Jan 2026 | 3,735,218 | 2,108,130 |
| Feb 2026 | 3,645,955 | 2,120,295 |
| Mar 2026 | 3,724,193 | 2,388,866 |
| Apr 2026 | 3,784,922 | 2,349,607 |
| May 2026 | 3,828,666 | 2,386,178 |
| Jun 2026 | 3,625,862 | 2,371,570 |
| Jul 2026 | 3,470,130 | 2,261,537 |
| Aug 2026 | 3,580,744 | 2,539,092 |
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer · UK · September 2026
Three years ago, Vinted had 37% as many UK searches as eBay. In the latest 12 months, it had 61%. Vinted gained about 7.7 million searches a year, the biggest increase of any search in the study. The biggest falls were Argos (down about 11 million searches a year), Shein, eBay and Amazon.
How are shopping habits changing?
How people shop: what’s rising and falling
Change in UK searches, Sep 2023–Aug 2024 to Sep 2025–Aug 2026
- Back MarketSecond hand and refurbished +34%
- click and collectPaying and delivery +34%
- next day deliveryPaying and delivery +29%
- clothes shops near meShopping near me +25%
- KlarnaPaying and delivery +14%
- cashbackDeals +10%
- clearance saleDeals +6%
- refurbished iphoneSecond hand and refurbished −4%
- ClearpayPaying and delivery −5%
- black friday dealsDeals −12%
- shopping centre near meShopping near me −12%
- buy now pay laterPaying and delivery −16%
- shops near meShopping near me −17%
- supermarket near meShopping near me −18%
- charity shops near meSecond hand and refurbished −27%
- prelovedSecond hand and refurbished −29%
- voucher codeDeals −57%
View as a table
| Search | Sep 2023 to Aug 2024 | Sep 2025 to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back Market | 1,706,970 | 2,294,713 | +34% |
| click and collect | 101,132 | 135,296 | +34% |
| next day delivery | 223,032 | 287,159 | +29% |
| clothes shops near me | 81,722 | 102,406 | +25% |
| Klarna | 3,529,881 | 4,032,265 | +14% |
| cashback | 283,531 | 312,945 | +10% |
| clearance sale | 41,341 | 43,852 | +6% |
| refurbished iphone | 468,711 | 452,232 | −4% |
| Clearpay | 2,272,195 | 2,167,370 | −5% |
| black friday deals | 818,714 | 724,003 | −12% |
| shopping centre near me | 271,396 | 238,011 | −12% |
| buy now pay later | 203,109 | 170,937 | −16% |
| shops near me | 2,291,097 | 1,905,140 | −17% |
| supermarket near me | 1,445,787 | 1,192,280 | −18% |
| charity shops near me | 690,451 | 502,231 | −27% |
| preloved | 294,325 | 207,612 | −29% |
| voucher code | 24,835 | 10,783 | −57% |
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer · UK · September 2026
- Convenience is up. “click and collect” searches rose 34% and “next day delivery” 29%. “click and collect” stepped up in March 2026 and stayed higher.
- Refurbished tech is up, through one brand. Back Market searches rose 34%, while “refurbished iphone” searches fell 4%.
- Pay later is growing by name. Klarna rose 14% and Clearpay was flat to down (−5%), while the generic “buy now pay later” fell 16%.
- Voucher codes are fading. “voucher code” fell 57%, falling almost every month. “cashback” rose 10%, and “black friday deals” fell 12% over three years, though it rose 8% in the latest year.
- “Near me” shopping is mixed. “clothes shops near me” rose 25%, but “shops near me”, “shopping centre near me” and “supermarket near me” all fell. “charity shops near me” fell 27%.
What does Google show for these searches?
Ahrefs recorded an AI Overview on 17 of the 45 searches, including “click and collect”, “next day delivery”, “buy now pay later”, “cashback” and “black friday deals”, as well as the marketplace searches for Temu, Etsy and AliExpress. Questions about how to shop, not just where, are increasingly answered before anyone clicks.
What does this mean for online shops?
Delivery and collection options are search terms. If you offer click and collect or next day delivery, say so clearly on product and category pages, not just at checkout.
Say which payment options you take. People search for Klarna and Clearpay by name. If you offer them, it belongs on your product pages.
Don’t rely on discount code searches. They’ve more than halved in three years. Clear prices, delivery costs and returns do more of the work.
Marketplaces are a channel, not a strategy. Search for the big platforms moves a lot year to year. Your own site, with its own search visibility, is the one channel you control. See web design, including ecommerce sites and AI SEO.
If you want to know how your shop handles the basics first, run a free SEO health check on a product page, or see what an ecommerce SEO audit covers.
How was this measured?
I used Ahrefs Keywords Explorer’s UK database to pull monthly search estimates for 45 shopping searches from September 2023 to August 2026, in six groups: marketplaces and retailers, second-hand and refurbished, paying and delivery, deals, shopping near me, and research before buying. Changes compare 12-month totals, September 2023 to August 2024 against September 2025 to August 2026. Search result features are the ones Ahrefs recorded for each keyword in September 2026.
Limits. Ahrefs’ monthly figures are modelled estimates, so they’re best used for direction rather than exact counts. Some searches, like “second hand”, “free delivery”, “dupe” and “discount code”, repeat almost the same curve every year, which reflects that modelling, so they’re left out of the charts. “tiktok shop” has missing months in the data, and “next” is an everyday word as well as a retailer, so both are left out too. Brand name searches include people going straight to a site they already use, not just new shoppers.