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Unexpected shipping costs were the top sales deterrent for online consumers, preventing 28 percent of buyers from completing their purchases, according to a report of more than 1,000 Web shoppers by website testing specialist Visual Website Optimizer (VWO).
The requirement for creating a new user account (23 percent), because people were only conducting research (16 percent) and payment security concerns (13 percent) were the next three reasons for shopping cart abandonment.
“Everyone knows that mobile usage for e-commerce is shooting up, but what was surprising for us was that while a large number of consumers have e-commerce shopping apps on their mobile devices, they’re not using those apps to make purchases,” Paras Chopra, CEO and Founder of VWO, told eWeek. “Buying behavior finally is still happening on desktop and laptop computers.”
Chopra said another surprising result is that the majority of online shoppers don’t really care for personalization in the form of recommended products.
“Personalization is seen as the next big thing in online shopping, however most of the personalization we see today is designed to trick shoppers into buying more,” he explained. “Truly useful personalization is something that helps the website visitor have a better shopping experience, and we just aren’t seeing many multichannel retailers do a great job of that yet.”
According to the survey, 54 percent of shoppers say they will purchase products left in their cart, if they are offered again at a discounted price. Among Millennials (age 25-34), the number is significantly higher, at 72 percent.
Chopra also noted multiple research studies, including VWO’s, show that online shoppers abandon cart most when confronted with unexpected shipping costs.
Mobile is increasingly popular for shopping online, especially for Millennials, according to VWO’s report.Sixty percent of Millennials have a shopping app installed on their mobile or tablet, significantly more than people of all ages (40 percent).
Conversely, 60 percent of app downloads aren’t used, as only a small portion of those who have the shopping apps are actually using them to make purchases.
The VWO report also details a juxtaposition for how influence and shopping intersect with social media for online shoppers.
While 53 percent of Millennials say Facebook keeps them informed about the latest in online shopping, 74 percent of online shoppers do not share on social networks that they bought a product.
Additionally, only 25 percent of Millennials, ages 18-24, and just 16 percent of all age groups will check out a product if their friend shares it on social.
The key purchase driver for most online shoppers (55 percent), however, is reading product reviews before making online shopping decisions.
“Social media will become more influential for online shoppers over time, but when it is used as a curation tool for the best products,” Chopra said. “Take for example Pinterest, which serves for many shoppers as a collection of the coolest, most aspirational products they’d like to buy. However, social media platforms that interfere with the connecting experiences of their users are unlikely to become influential for online shoppers.”
Unexpected shipping costs were the top sales deterrent for online consumers, preventing 28 percent of buyers from completing their purchases, according to new data culled from more than 1,000 Web shoppers by Website testing specialist Visual Website Optimizer (VWO).
Other top reasons shoppers abandoned their online carts included the requirement for creating a new user account (23 percent), the fact that people were only conducting research (16 percent) and payment security concerns (13 percent).
“Everyone knows that mobile usage for e-commerce is shooting up, but what was surprising for us was that while a large number of consumers have e-commerce shopping apps on their mobile devices, they’re not using those apps to make purchases,” Paras Chopra, CEO and founder of VWO, told eWEEK. “Buying behavior finally is still happening on desktop and laptop computers.”
Chopra said another surprising result is that the majority of online shoppers don’t really care for personalization in the form of recommended products.
“Personalization is seen as the next big thing in online shopping; however, most of the personalization we see today is designed to trick shoppers into buying more,” he explained. “Truly useful personalization is something that helps the Website visitor have a better shopping experience, and we just aren’t seeing many multi-channel retailers do a great job of that yet.”
According to the survey, 54 percent of shoppers said they will purchase products left in their cart, if they are offered again at a discounted price. Among Millennials (ages 25 to 34), the number is significantly higher, at 72 percent.
Chopra also noted multiple research studies, including VWO’s, show that online shoppers abandon their carts most when confronted with unexpected shipping costs.
Mobile is increasingly popular for shopping online, especially for Millennials, according to VWO’s report. Sixty percent of Millennials have a shopping app installed on their mobile phones or tablets, significantly more than people of all ages (40 percent).
Conversely, 60 percent of app downloads aren’t used, as only a small portion of those who have the shopping apps are actually using them to make purchases.
The VWO report also offers a juxtaposition for how influence and shopping intersect with social media for online shoppers.
While 53 percent of Millennials said Facebook keeps them informed about the latest in online shopping, 74 percent of online shoppers do not share on social networks that they bought a product.
Additionally, only 25 percent of Millennials, ages 18 to 24, and just 16 percent of all age groups will check out a product if a friend shares it on social media.
The key purchase driver for most online shoppers (55 percent), however, is reading product reviews before making online shopping decisions.
“Social media will become more influential for online shoppers over time, but when it is used as a curation tool for the best products,” Chopra said. “Take for example Pinterest, which serves for many shoppers as a collection of the coolest, most aspirational products they’d like to buy. However, social media platforms that interfere with the connecting experiences of their users are unlikely to become influential for online shoppers.”