A new US study has found that converts to online shopping aren’t heading back to stores anytime soon with three-quarters of those surveyed agreeing the vast majority of their Christmas shopping would be via the internet. And much of it via smartphones.
The study by web monitoring firm Catchpoint admittedly focused on people who were regular online shoppers. And by “regular” had purchased something online at least once in the past month.
The results found that 72 per cent of respondents intended to the vast majority of their Christmas shopping online. The desktop computer was the device of choice for online shoppers, while 28 per cent said they’d do it via a smartphone or tablet device.
However, it wasn’t all bad news for bricks and mortar. Some 32 per cent said they’d do all their shopping in a physical store.
Four per cent admitted they never shopped online, while another four per cent said they shopped online everyday. Fifty-four per cent agreed they’d shopped more online in 2016 than they had 12 months ago.
According to the study, all demographics shop online, however, as you’d expect, the Ys were its biggest fans.
And it was all about the smartphone for the Millennials. Twenty-two per cent agreed they’d do all their Christmas shopping on their phone and 46 per cent said they preferred to shop with retailers who have a mobile app over just a store website.
Mehdi Daoudi, CEO and co-founder of Catchpoint said of the findings: “With the maturing of ecommerce, and with many physical stores closing nationwide, the online experience has become the critical customer service parameter for retailers.
“Retailers are being pressured to deliver features, speed, availability and reliability. Missed expectations can have far reaching consequences to their business results.”
