The UAE users spent a whopping 255 million minutes (equivalent to the time it takes to travel to and from Pluto 25 times) on the leading classifieds platform dubizzle sarching for both luxury and affordable items during the month of Ramadan, said a report.

The platform also recorded approximately 17 million visits from May 26 to June 24, up 16 per cent compared to the previous three months, stated dubizzle revealing user trends, preferences and activities during the holy month.

The report pointed out that users utilized the platform to look for both luxury and affordable items, spending an average of 15 minutes per visit – a similar amount of time browsing dubizzle compared to other months.

Results show that visitor traffic during Ramadan peaked at 1pm, compared to 11am throughout the rest of the year. The lowest activity was recorded around 8pm (iftar time), then rose again during the evening hours until 2am, where activity fell until 10am, said the report by dubizzle.

Naturally, visits to the platform during Eid (June 25) decreased by 22 per cent compared to the average, highlighting Eid as a special occasion in which distractions are avoided and time is spent with loved ones, it added.

Commenting on these trends, Nadia Zehni, the director of marketing at dubizzle, said: "Ramadan is one of the most important periods of the year for Muslims, and it significantly impacts user behavior across all sectors in the UAE."

The changes in lifestyle and internet consumption patterns during the fasting hours require companies to be adaptable and adjust their activities in line with trends, observed Zehni.

"To make our product more relevant for users during Ramadan, we included an imsakiyah – otherwise known as the Ramadan calendar – on our mobile apps for the second year in a row, following last year’s success and positive feedback from users," she noted.

During Ramadan, more than 555,000 messages were exchanged through the Instant chat feature on the dubizzle app, an increase of 15.6 per cent from the previous month, said Zehni.

The peak period for using the chat feature was at 10pm on Saturdays throughout the holy month she added.-TradeArabia News Service