Commentary

E-Commerce Durables Attracting Almost Half of Global Online Shoppers

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

 

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