Know Your Consumer

Online shopping is growing and for many reasons. And many websites are springing up in the hope of cashing in on the internet millions. But do you know your audience and why they would shop at your site? In this report I`ve looked over many statistics on offer freely and dissected them into a readable format to help the online entrepreneur make sense of the consumer habits and perhaps somewhere in here is a direction to go.

Thirty-five percent of consumers surveyed said added costs, such as shipping and handling, or lengthy delivery times resulted in their abandoning an online purchase. Sites requesting too much information is another annoyance that drives away 35 percent of buyers surveyed.
Shipping charges for online orders continue to be a thorn in the side of consumers, 20% of whom cited shipping costs as their biggest frustration related to online shopping. 19% said spam is most annoying, followed by the inability to try on clothes, 15%, and the risk of entering a credit card number online, 13% The top reason online consumers prefer to shop on the web is to avoid crowds, a reason cited by 38% of respondents. The next four reasons consumers prefer the web, and the percent of respondents citing them: Lower prices, 35%; ease of comparing products and prices, 28%; avoiding the inconvenience of traveling to stores, 28%; and a wider selection of products, 26%.

Online retailing sites are prime destinations for women 18-34 years old who are Internet users. While women 18-34 are 15.7% of all Internet users, they are 24% of shoppers at fragrance/cosmetic sites, 22.3% of shoppers at jewelry/accessories/luxury goods sites and 20.8% of shoppers at apparel sites. The online channel is coming into its own not just as a way to buy but also to research purchases and other opportunities. 66% of online households have researched products online for purchase. 52% go online to contact customer service by e-mail, while 36% go online to research free products or find coupons.

65 percent of Internet users won't patronize a poorly designed site. Even that of a favourite brand. And 30 percent reported that Web site design is more important than a great product. Even rock-bottom prices only persuaded 4 percent to shop on a poorly designed Web site. What's worse is that nearly 30 percent stop buying from their favourite offline store if their online experience is poor.

Nearly half (45 percent) of respondents indicated that they were researching product information, rather than making an immediate buy. Of the remaining 55 percent that had purchasing intentions, 11 percent immediately bought online, and 6 percent immediately bought offline. The locale was more difficult to determine for the 21 percent who indicated they would buy within 48 hours, and the 17 percent who intended to buy within the week. Sixty-seven percent of online shoppers said that value is more important to them now than it was five years ago. As for the merchandise that the respondents ordered, over 93 percent said items received were of high quality and 88 percent agreed that the purchase was a good value for the money spent. While 84 percent said that the merchandise received met or exceeded expectations.

The Internet was the top ranking source for shopping research on travel (71 percent), software (46 percent), tickets for entertainment events (44 percent), computer hardware/software (40 percent), books (39 percent), investments (37 percent), automobiles (35 percent), electronic equipment (34 percent), videos/DVDs (28 percent), and video games (27 percent).
U.S. online retail sales this year will close at $95.7 billion, climbing to $229.9 billion in 2008. Next year's sales are projected at $122.6 billion, with $149.2 billion, $176.8 billion and $204.3 billion forecast for 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Staying alert to your customers ever changing demands and being as responsive as you can, will also mark you out as someone to trust and do business with, just as in the physical commercial world so it matters in the virtual realm, perhaps even more.
Knowing your consumers and their shopping habits should be a major factor in growing your online business.