Online purchases have for the first time pushed past the halfway mark among the most avid online shoppers, according to the fifth annual UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study: More than half (51%) of all these consumers’ purchases are now made online, up from 48% in 2015.
While the growth of e-Commerce has become an inescapable reality fed by shifting consumer preferences, it’s still true that the overwhelming bulk of monetary spending remains in brick-and-mortar stores. The U.S. Commerce Department revealed that only 7.8% of all retail spending took place online in Q1 2016. However, the proliferation of technologies and more accessible channels for both browsing and buying indicates that e-Commerce will only continue to make a bigger impact.
The study, which surveyed 5,330 shoppers who make two or more online purchases within a three-month period, revealed these shoppers’ growing gravitation to digital channels:
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Only 20% of respondents say they still do all of their shopping and browsing within the store, declining from 22% in 2015;
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Satisfaction in mobile experiences has increased to 73%, up eight points from 65% in 2015. This aligns closely with the rising usage of smartphones, which increased from 67% in 2014 to 77% in 2016;
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44% purchase products on a smartphone, a slight boost from the 41% who did so in 2015; and
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38% of purchases are cross-channel, meaning the shopper goes in the store and accesses at least one online channel while there.
Online shoppers report they are using their smartphones in-store for a full range of actions, including searching product reviews (29%), reading product details (28%), comparing prices (27%), and regularly accessing coupons for in-store redemption (27%).
“We know shoppers use their smartphones while in-store, so if retailers can tie together mobile messaging with valuable features in their apps, this can be a winning combination,” said Louis DeJianne, Director for Retail and Consumer Products at UPS.
Marketplaces are also gaining in appeal with these consumers, with 85% of shoppers purchasing on them within the past year and 35% now starting their searches on these sites. The top marketplaces for shoppers thus far in 2016 include:
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Amazon (70%);
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eBay (53%);
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Etsy (17%); and
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Newegg (12%).
