Across the globe, shoppers are increasingly turning to the web to buy the things they need, says a recent Nielsen study. Online shopping offers certain conveniences, from
delivering the order right to your door to broad selection and low prices, that brick-and-mortar stores can't. eMarketer estimates, notes the report, that business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales
worldwide will reach $1.5 trillion in 2014, up nearly 20 percent from 2013.
The most popular e-commerce categories, are non-consumable durables and entertainment-related
products. Almost half of global respondents in the online survey intend to purchase clothing or make airline or hotel reservations using an online device in the next six months. On the other hand the
online market for buying groceries and other consumable products is comparatively smaller. The hands-on buying nature and perishability of these goods limits the usefulness and practicality of buying
online, says the report.
Online purchase intention rates, for more than half of 22 consumer product categories Nielsen measured, doubled (in some cases tripled) between 2011
and 2014. High-growth categories include e-books, event tickets, computer software, sporting goods, toys and dolls, music, videos/DVDs/games, baby supplies, flowers, cars, alcoholic drinks and
pet-related products*.
When shopping for non-consumable goods there is mostly a one-to-one correlation between online searching and shopping, says the report. Consumable
products have lower online browse/buy intention rates than non-consumable ones, but still boast just as strong browse-to-buy correlations.
Global online purchase intentions
for the cosmetic category increased 6 percentage points in three years, growing from 25 percent in 2011 to 31 percent in 2014, while online purchase intent for groceries rose 5 percentage points, from
22 percent in 2011 to 27 percent in 2014. In the Asia-Pacific region, China and South Korea are leaders in both categories, with purchase intentions exceeding the global average by about 20 percentage
points each.
Global Average Online Browsing and Buying Intentions in Next
6 months |
| Intentions |
Category | Browse % | Buy % |
Clothing,
accessories & shoes | 46% | 46% |
Tours and hotel reservations | 42 | 44 |
Event tickets | 38 | 41 |
Hardcopy books | 37 | 39 |
EBooks | 35 | 34 |
Cosmetics | 33 | 31 |
Personal care | 31 | 29 |
Groceries | 30 | 27 |
Toys and
dolls | 28 | 29 |
Source: Nielsen, Q1 2014 |
John Burbank, President of Strategic Initiatives, Nielsen, says “
while durable and entertainment-based categories are showing a substantial rise in intent… consumable categories… are gaining traction quickly… online transactions (for durables)
make it easy… (but) building a consumer base for consumable categories requires more marketing muscle…”
For additional information from two correlated
reports from Nielsen, please visit here… and here