The data comes from web measurement firm SimilarWeb, which tracked a 28% increase in referral traffic from eBay to Argos.

Obviously it’s impossible to say whether the click-and-collect deal is entirely responsible for the increase in traffic, but it’s likely to have had some impact on referrals.

The service is currently operating in 150 Argos stores and shoppers can take delivery from 40 eBay sellers, including those listed here.

The rise and rise of click-and-collect

It’s no surprise that eBay has acted to create its own click-and-collect partnership as the service is becoming increasingly popular with shoppers.

Argos is the UK’s third most successful ecommerce retailer and achieves 42% of total sales online. The retailer’s ‘check and reserve’ service accounted for 31% of total online sales in Q4 2012.

Similarly, a survey conducted by Econsultancy in August found that almost two-thirds of consumers (63%) have bought products online before collecting them in-store at least once in the past 12 months, while 16% use reserve-and-collect at least once a month.

Do you reserve products online before collecting them in store? How often?

The Argos deal also isn’t the first time that eBay has timed a foray into offline retail to coincide with Christmas.

In November 2011 eBay opened a pop-up shop on London’s Oxford Street that was based entirely around instant purchasing via QR codes.

The shop didn’t have any checkouts, so to make a purchase customers were asked to scan a product’s QR code using a smartphone, which in turn directed them to the payment section of the eBay website.

Then in 2012 the online retailer opened a similar store in Covent Garden, though this time it came with the addition of augmented reality.

The idea was partly to give inspiration for Christmas gifts, but also to showcase eBay’s range of mobile apps.

Ebay expected a third of Christmas purchases to be made through mobile in 2012, though the percentage was predicted to be even higher than that for fashion and homewares.