E-commerce News

A new survey from ‘behavioral commerce’ specialist SteelHouse confirms what many retailers and marketers have come to learn in this age of evolving ecommerce options: that Americans’ shopping habits are as varied as the individuals themselves, and one size most certainly does not fit all when it comes to enticing those shoppers online.

Steelhouse teamed with Chicago-based market researcher Synovate eNation on the survey, asking 1,000 participants nationwide:  “What kind of online shopper are you?”

The results, which revealed some surprises in a few areas, indicate overall that retailers must diversify their offerings as much as possible in order to grab the attention of consumers.

“It’s clear that simply giving the same offer to every online shopper is not the way to increase sales,” said SteelHouse CEO and online marketing technology expert Mark Douglas.  “We’re people, we approach shopping just like everything else – based on our personalities and ingrained behaviors. Retailers that understand and act on these different shopper personalities in real time are the ones that will be successful.”

In some cases, the differences in shopping habits come down to something as simple as gender.  The survey found, for example, that brand names appeal to men more than women:  one-quarter of males said they would buy a premium brand name compared just 16 percent of the female participants.  Women meanwhile, tend to look for discounts or special offers much more frequently than their male counterparts.

Meanwhile, in another somewhat surprising revelation, individuals in the highest income bracket ($75,000 annually and over) tend to be bigger bargain hunters than those who make less money.  Nearly 37 percent of those in the $75k-plus income bracket seek out coupons and coupon sites, compared to 32 percent of the overall survey sampling.

Still, it’s clear that the general shopping public is getting increasingly smarter and many consumers are logging on to the web with no clear intention of making a purchase.  While 40 percent of those polled said they always shop with the purpose of finding something in particular, 30 percent said they often browse with no intention of buying whatsoever.  And 12 percent indicated that they never buy from a website that they’re visiting for the first time, even if a special discount is available.

Additional findings from the report:

– 44 percent read product reviews before they buy;
– 28 percent buy only when there’s a discount;
– 27 percent buy only when there’s an offer for free shipping;
– 18 percent start the checkout process but never complete the transaction;
– 11 percent never shop online.

With the retail and e-commerce industries expected to spend more than $5.7 billion advertising and marketing their offers online this year, SteelHouse’s findings should certainly make many of them think twice before repeating the tried and true practice of blasting the same information to millions of consumers at once.

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