Online retail continues to grow, with 42.6% of UK consumers buying online at least once a week, and the average online spend per shopper reaching £71 per month.
Theses are some of the finding of a survey of 2,000 UK shoppers by eCommera, which also finds that more than a third of shoppers have increased their online spending over the past year.
Here are some highlights from the report...
Reasons for shopping online
Price was the most important factor for 60% of respondents, followed by convenience of having items delivered (51%).
Why consumers shop online:
Recommendations from friends or family is the single most important factor in the choice of website to buy from, with 71% giving this reason. 46% said knowledge of the retailer from their high street presence was a key factor, an important advantage for multichannel retailers.
35% visited a particular etailer thanks to their visibility on search engines, while 21% were prompted to visit a site by offline advertising.
What deters customers from a website
Respondents were asked what would deter them from shopping with a particular etailer, and the most common answer was poor images and product descriptions (42%).
Other turn-offs were poor navigation (32%), concerns about payment security, finding that items are unavailable (26%), no contact details (18%), and over-long checkout processes (16%).
Having made a purchase, customers would be deterred from repeat purchases by receiving an order that wasn't as described (42%), late delivery (19%), and poor after sales service (18%).
Cross-channel shopping habits
When asked how they shop, 63% said they research across multiple websites before completing their purchase online, while 45% go to a website they have used before to see if they can find what they want.
30% will research products and prices online before completing the purchase at their local store, while 26% do the reverse and buy online after checking out products in store.
Graham Charlton is Editor at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin or Google+.
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Senior Copywriter at Koozai
10:44AM on 9th August 2010
Interesting to see that poor product descriptions were the highest deterrent for consumers. Obviously as a Copywriter that gives a little credence to the work that we do and shows that etailers need to take the design and content of their site seriously.
Useful statistics though, good to see the UK online market is growing and that search and content remain integral factors in enticing Internet sales.
Director at Watson Hall Ltd
11:18AM on 9th August 2010
Yes, interesting. There are rather more EU and OECD statistics and discussion of the motivations for using/avoiding online commerce in the current Office of Fair Trading (OFT) consultation on eConsumer Protection:
e.g. "internet users spent ... in 2009 ... 9.5 per cent of UK retail trade".
The consultation period closes on 13 October 2010.
11:43AM on 9th August 2010
Another percentage of a percentage headline!
1:59PM on 9th August 2010
Useful stats. Quite interesting that only 40% believes that there is more choise online. It's a clear fact that there is much more choise on internet (not including services), it means that there is still a long way to go in promoting e-commerce.
Account Manager at Marketing Grin
2:45PM on 9th August 2010
Regarding what deters customers from a website:
It's an issue of trust. Of course buying in person means you can hold the product in your hand, have a chat with the seller and have confidence that the seller cannot disappear from the location too soon. The online world is a scarier place. How can the customer trust that she won't lose her money if the product description is poor, contact details unavailable and return policy inaccessible? Poor navigation implies poor customer service.
Rob D - Marketing Grin | London Digital Marketing Agency
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http://www.marketinggrin.com/
3:05PM on 16th August 2010
Interesting results, particularly the findings on what deters customers from a website. Poor images and descriptions, security concerns, poor navigation, a lack of contact details and lengthy checkout processes are all issues for customers that we have had frequently identified in testing sessions over the years. However, there are a couple of other major points that I feel would put customers off purchasing on a website.
We carried out a website poll a few months ago which identified the two key reasons for customers abandoning online orders were hidden charges at the checkout and being forced to register before buying. Full details of the poll can be seen at http://www.webcredible.co.uk/about-us/pr/checkout-poll.shtml.