Free Shipping and Free Returns Entice Consumers to Buy More Online
According to recent numbers from Compete, more than eight out of 10 consumers shop online at least once a week. Free shipping, free returns and fast shipping are three offers that will entice consumers to buy more products online.
According to the company’s quarterly “Online Shopper Intelligence Study,” 83 percent of consumers are shopping online at least once a week. Thirty-one percent of consumers say they are checking retailers’ Facebook fan pages and Twitter feeds, which reflects nearly double the number of consumers who said they did this back in the third quarter of 2009.
For the next six months, the “most shopped” products online will be of the entertainment variety – movies, music, video games, e-media, books, etc. Apparel follows behind.
The study also found that while 44 percent of consumers say they research electronics online, they end up buying these products at a store. Thirty percent say the same for kitchen items, while 28 percent say this about media and 28 percent say the same for furniture items.
Why do consumers research online only to purchase in a store? The most popular reason was to avoid shipping costs (62 percent), followed by the ability to try on, touch or feel an item (57 percent), and immediacy (50 percent).
In order to combat the temptations to make in-store purchases, online retailers have an arsenal of incentives at their disposal. The most valued incentives for consumers are free shipping (87 percent), free returns (63 percent) and fast shipping (42 percent).
Also, the option of using in-store coupons online is cited as a motivator to make purchases online by 51 percent of respondents. This is up from 19 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
These findings should serve retailers well as the holiday season approaches, according to Debra Arbesman, retail associate at Compete. She notes that more than half of the respondents said they will spend as much or more this holiday season compared to last. “Retailers should be mindful of these promising findings to create strategies that will better engage shoppers.”
The second-quarter report was based on the responses of 3,119 online purchasers between May and July, according to Compete.
According to comScore, retail e-commerce spending grew 9 percent year-over-year in the second quarter to $32.9 billion.
A report from MasterCard Advisors showed that e-commerce spending rose 7.2 percent year-over-year in August.
Sources:
http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/09/01/e-commerce-spending-increases-72-august
