What Matters to Online Shoppers?
Convenience appears to be the factor driving many shoppers to buy from the Web this holiday season. According to the e-tailing group’s annual pre-holiday consumer survey, 54 percent of shoppers are buying online this year to save time. The recent survey polled more than 1,500 shoppers via an online questionnaire. Among them, 1,250 of them plan to shop online for gifts this holiday season. Highlights from the survey follow.
* Besides saving time, other reasons for shopping online include the ability to locate hard-to-find items (40 percent) and the opportunity to save money (34 percent);
* Gift-giving behavior remains similar to last year, with 68 percent of respondents planning to spend about the same as last year;
* 44 percent anticipate spending in the $100 to $500 range, and 44 percent plan to spend more than $500;
* 74 percent of respondents said they will comparison shop three sites or more before making a final purchase decision;
* 65 percent said they intend to research products online before making gift purchases;
* The online promotional tools most important to shoppers include free shipping (86 percent) and sales and specials (76 percent);
* Customer service proved an important factor to many, with the following communication tools being ranked very or most important: toll-free phone number (77 percent), accessible contact information (76 percent) and live help (69 percent); and
* Keyword search ranked as the most important online search feature (80 percent), followed by advanced search (67 percent), product comparison tools (67 percent) and customer ratings/reviews (60 percent).
For more information, go to www.e-tailing.com .