According to a recent whitepaper, "The Mall Behind the Spreadsheet," from AOL Advertising with OTX, women control $4.3 trillion, or 73%, of US household
spending while juggling work, home and family life. Many of them manage to shoehorn 27 hours of activities into the standard 24-hour day, as 40% of them shop online during work hours.
Women Shopping At Work vs. Home |
| % Shopping At Home | At Work |
Women overall | 59% | 40% |
Women
age 18-24 | 48 | 51 |
Women are 35-54 | 63 | 37 |
Source: AOL Research, July 2010 |
Overall, women tend to shop between 15 and 30 minutes a day while at work. Moms, though, tend to shop for longer periods of time at work. 37% say it's because
they have more downtime at work than they do at home.
Time Spent At Work Shopping
Online (% of Respondents) |
Time Spent | Moms | Non-Moms |
Don't shop | 9% | 16% |
≤ 15 minutes | 24 | 29 |
15-30 minutes | 40 | 35 |
30-60 minutes | 20 | 17 |
≥ 1 hour | 8 | 3 |
Source: AOL Research, July 2010 |
Women ages 18-34 conduct about half of their online shopping during
work hours, and most do so in order to save time.
- 53% Time saver/convenience
- 40% To pass time
- 38% I need it now
- 20% No time at home
- 35% Most downtime
Need is the main driver for women's online purchases. However, boredom and a compelling call-to-action can inspire younger women to shop.
Prompts For Shopping At Work (% of Respondents) |
Reason | 18-34 Year Olds | 35-54 |
A specific need | 69% | 69% |
Boredom | 60 | 33 |
Email
notification from companies | 40 | 37 |
Email
notification subscribed to | 38 | 44 |
Relevant
Online ads | 31 | 23 |
Source: AOL
Research, July 2010 |
60% of women respond to email offers, making it the most influential driver of purchase - in fact, 3 out of 4 women subscribe to email
alerts.
Purchase Drivers |
Driver | % of Respondents |
Email offers | 60% |
Television commercials | 35 |
Online ads | 30 |
Direct mail offers | 30 |
Newspaper circulars | 28 |
Source: AOL Research, July 2010 |
Women shop Online more at work on Fridays than on any other day of the week, and about half of all women do their
shopping between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m
Online Shopping Women |
Shopping Day | % of Respondents |
Monday | 33% |
Tuesday | 27 |
Wednesday | 35% |
Thursday | 33 |
Friday | 52 |
Saturday | 11 |
Sunday | 7 |
Source: AOL Research, July 2010 |
On any given day, lunch and other break times provide the best time for women to shop.
- 54% shop during lunch
- 41% while multitasking
- 46% during breaks and downtime
- 25% right after seeing a "deal"
Please visit AOL Research here for more about this study.