In the world of physical retail, most of the shopping process decisions are made prior to entering or even selecting a store. The consumer decides what he/she wants to buy, picks a store, browses, and likely buys. In the online realm, on the other hand, where less than 3% of browsers actually purchase an item, browsing across multiple Web sites is only the starting point. Shopping is a multi-tab, back-and-forth process that can lead in many different directions, including immediate purchases, buying on a different device, abandoned shopping carts, and even final purchase offline. Or so suggests a survey of 500 consumers who had shopped online within the past three months performed by HookLogic, partnering with Markettree, LLC.
On average, consumers are browsing 2.7 sites when making an online purchase, and this number is consistent across the major shopping categories of Clothing, Health & Beauty, Electronics and Baby Care, says the survey. Only 30% of shoppers visit just one Web site when shopping, but over 50% shop 2-3 sites, and another 11% visit 4 or more sites.
More than 60% of consumers have a specific product category in mind when they begin shopping, which also means that 40% of consumers are truly just browsing. Once consumers have done some research and found a product, 50% like to compare products on one retail site, while just 25% continue to compare products across sites. A fifth of them like to put items in their carts without purchasing right away.
Two-thirds of consumers are browsing once or more a month, and just less than half are buying that frequently.
For most categories, there are two types of decision-making processes: the spontaneous purchase decision, 1-2 hours before purchase, and the considered purchase decision, 1-3 days before purchase, says the study. However, in Electronics there is a delayed purchase decision where consumers start thinking about their purchases weeks or even months beforehand.
Significant mobile shopping activity (phones, tablets) is happening across all categories. On average, 30% of consumers researched products on their mobile phones within the last year, and 18% of them went on to make a purchase. 22% have researched or browsed on one device and then purchased on another
Clothing was the most frequently purchased category in the past three months, followed by Books, Electronics and Health & Beauty. Travel and Vitamins fell in the middle, while Toys, Pet Supplies and Home & Garden were lower. Over 25% of consumers were buying these categories in the past three months.
The report concludes by noting that speed is becoming an ever more important factor in online shopping. Even when consumers do research, comparison shop and price check, overall purchase cycles are short, typically less than two days. Connecting with the consumer immediately is crucial, or she will go to one of her other top sites to make her purchase. It’s only a click away, and online consumers are easily distracted.
