Eighty-three percent of consumers are shopping online at least weekly, according to Compete's quarterly Online Shopper Intelligence Study.
Study results exposed a number of consistent trends:
- Consumers are seeking out retailers on Facebook and Twitter in growing numbers: 31 percent report checking out Facebook fan pages or Twitter feeds of retailers, almost twice as many people as in Q3 2009.
- Data show that over the next six months, the "most shopped" products online will be entertainment products — including movies, music, video games, e-media and books. Second on the list? Apparel.
- Forty-four percent of consumers reported that they research electronics online, but ultimately purchase electronics at a store; 30 percent do so with kitchen items, 28 percent with media and 28 percent prefer to research furniture online and buy it in the store.
- Top reasons why consumers opt to make purchases in a store are to avoid shipping costs (62 percent), to try on, touch or feel an item (57 percent) and immediacy (50 percent).
- Marketers can overcome the primary barriers to buying online by offering incentives that address the reasons many consumers research products online, but buy offline. Some of the top ways to encourage consumers to buy more products online are free shipping (87 percent), free returns (63 percent), and fast shipping (42 percent). In addition, the ability to use in-store coupons online is increasingly valued among consumers — 51 percent indicated it is a motivator to make more purchases online — up from the 19 percent reported in Q1 2010.
"As retailers look toward the rapidly approaching holidays, they should prepare for an uptick in spending — over half of all respondents said that compared to last year, they will be spending as much or more this holiday season," said Debra Arbesman, retail associate at Compete, a Kantar Media company. "Retailers should be mindful of these promising findings to create strategies that will better engage shoppers."
Compete Online Shopper Intelligence is an industry-wide research report that explores the attitudes and behaviors of online shoppers to provide marketers with insight into the complete online shopping experience.
The Q2 report was compiled from a survey of 3,119 online purchasers between May and July 2010. For more information about the study, email Debra Arbesman at darbesman@compete.com.
