Top Six Tips to Win Online Shoppers

Internet shopping is a increasing becoming a phenomenon. Exponential growth of leading players indicates a large reservoir of market potential for e-commerce.Every retailer either online or offline wants to grab a pie of online sales. What customers want to buy online? What are the hot categories in virtual world? How to grab share from the wallet of online shopper? These are few among many questions that every brand/retailer is pondering over these days. Despite a lot of investment that has been made to understand the behavior of shoppers, nobody seems to cracks the riddle of online shopping.

Recently launched The 2019 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study highlights the trends, preferences and expectations of online shoppers. The study reveals interesting insights about shoppers in India. Study reveals, Indian shoppers are most quality conscious, most active in returning products and are also more likely to voice complaints. 

Following are the key findings of the report:

Mechanism behind Research to Make Purchase

Online shoppers use various platforms. Half normally use search engines (Google, Bing, Baidu, etc.). Forty-three percent search on Amazon, while about one in three (34%) goes to the retailer/ reseller website.

Ninety percent of customers research items before purchasing them online, while younger generations are most likely to be influenced by customer reviews. Ninety-five percent of all buyers expect to see all shipping fees and taxes totaled before they’ll complete the purchase.

Amazon matters, Even When Consumers Don’t Buy There

As per the study, more than half (56%) of online shoppers with access to Amazon Prime start their research on Amazon as compared to 40% of shoppers generally. Meanwhile, 57% of online shoppers without access to Prime start their research on a search engine. And, of note, about one in three (31%) of Gen Z online shoppers, the very youngest

High Quality is Prime Factor of Trust

As per the study, forty-one percent of global online shoppers select retailers due to the high quality of products. It is closely followed by other factors including promotions, discounts, customer reviews, and product information.

Study reveals Quality matters most in Mexico and India. In Brazil, low delivery cost matters. But delivery cost is no concern at all in China, where it matters more if a retailer holds similar values to the shopper.

Domestic or International? Location Matters..

The geographical positioning of seller is very critical information which matters to some shoppers. As per the study, seventy-three percent of online shoppers care if a seller or retailer is based internationally.

There are various reasons for this location preference such as some shoppers trust domestic retailers, with whom they may have long-standing loyalties and a happy purchasing history. Others may believe in the quality, or trust the reputation, of a seller outside the country.

Shoppers want still want choice and convenience, but they’d rather not pay for it. 

Respondents like next-day deliveries, but they will consider other options - such as lower fees or incentives - for slower shipping. Millennial shoppers are more likely to choose accelerated delivery options than other age groups. Generally, though, online shoppers show a very low appetite for paying for shipping. That’s why they’ll take various actions to obtain free shipping, including adding items to the cart (36%), choosing the slowest transit time (32%) and searching online for a promo code (32%).

Seamless Returns Remains the Key

Returning merchandise remains a key demand for online shoppers, with 73% of surveyed consumers responding that the returns experience affected whether they would continue shopping with a retailer. Globally, 36% of online shoppers returned an item in the previous three months.

Globally, about two-out-of-three shoppers (63%) ship returns back to sellers/retailers. This method is the most popular in Europe and Asia-Pacific (APAC), where 67% of shoppers ship their returns. Meanwhile, the main reason cited for a poor returns experience is delay in getting a refund (25%). Having to pay for a return annoys a significant percentage of consumers (24%), as does a delay in receiving an exchange or a replacement item (21%).