• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 14, 2014

According to HookLogic, partnering with Markettree, LLC, on the study “Online Consumer Shopping Behavior Revealed,” surveying 500 consumers who had shopped online within the past three months, in the offline world most of the shopping process decisions are made prior to entering or even selecting a store. The consumer decides what he/she wants to buy, picks a store, browses, and likely buys.

On the other hand, says the report, in the online world, where less than 3% of browsers actually purchase an item, browsing across multiple websites is only the starting point. Shopping is a multi-tab, back-and-forth process that can lead in many different directions, including immediate purchases, buying on a different device, abandoned shopping carts, and even final purchase offline.

On average, consumers are browsing 2.7 sites when making an online purchase. This number is remarkably consistent across the major shopping categories of Clothing, Health & Beauty, Electronics and Baby Care. Only 30% of shoppers visit just one website when shopping, but over 50% shop 2-3 sites, and another 11% visit 4 or more sites.

Over 60%, of consumers have a specific product category in mind when they begin shopping, which also means that 40% of consumers are truly just browsing. Once consumers have done some research and found a product, 50% like to compare products on one retail site, while just 25% continue to compare products across sites. A fifth of them like to put items in their carts without purchasing right away.

• The Clothing and Health & Beauty categories tend to be highly browsed categories where consumers do more comparison shopping.
• Electronics consumers still have a relatively high incidence of knowing what they’re looking for at 58%, but they compare more often across different websites, likely due to the higher price points of this category.
• Baby Care shoppers know more specifically what they’re seeking at 65%, but they also compare within one site, suggesting that they are willing to take the time to make the right purchase when they know what they want.

Two-thirds of consumers are browsing once or more a month, and just less than half are buying that frequently. One-fifth browses weekly, while 8% of consumers buy this frequently. Across categories, 70-80% of consumers browse at least monthly, with a slight dip in Electronics. The Baby category has the largest group of consumers who buy at least monthly at 80%, while Electronics has the least at 36%.

For most categories, there are two types of decision-making processes: the spontaneous purchase decision, 1-2 hours before purchase, and the considered purchase decision, 1-3 days before purchase. However, in Electronics there is a delayed purchase decision where consumers start thinking about their purchases weeks or even months beforehand.

Significant mobile shopping activity (phones, tablets) is happening across all categories. On average, 30% of consumers researched products on their mobile phones within the last year, and 18% of them went on to make a purchase. 22% have researched or browsed on one device and then purchased on another. Nearly 40% of Baby buyers have purchased on a mobile device, significantly above average.

Clothing was the most frequently purchased category in the past three months, followed by Books, Electronics and Health & Beauty. Travel and Vitamins fell in the middle, while Toys, Pet Supplies and Home & Garden were lower. Over 25% of consumers were buying these categories in the past three months.

Amount Spent in the Past 3 Months
	Total	1+ Children
Less than $100	21	11
$100 to $299	31	24
$300 to $499	17	21
$500 or more	31	44
Mean amount spent	$503	$671
Source: HookLogic, October 2014

Spend per unit is highest among Consumer Electronics, but the total value is highest for Baby at $856 for the past three months. While this amount is substantial, it will only increase. Forrester Research predicts a 10% compound growth rate through 2018, 2-3 times faster growth than total retail sales, says the report.

Baby “I buy very often” Spend $285/month

• 75% browse monthly
• 80% purchase monthly
• 76% begin to think about purchase within the week of purchase
• 55% likely to add add-on items

Health & Beauty “I need it” Spend $228/month

• 79% browse monthly
• 62% purchase monthly
• 68% begin to think about purchase within the week of purchase
• 62% likely to add add-on items

Electronics “I need it” Spend $229/month

• 59% browse monthly
• 36% purchase monthly
• 51% begin thinking about purchase within the week
• 37% likely to add add-on items

Clothing “I want it” Spend $206/month

• 77% browse monthly
• 52% purchase monthly
• 65% begin to think about purchase within the week of purchase
• 55% likely to add add-on items

The report concludes by noting that speed is becoming an ever more important factor in online shopping. Even when consumers do research, comparison shop and price check, overall purchase cycles are short, typically less than two days. Connecting with the consumer immediately is crucial, or she will go to one of her other top sites to make her purchase. It’s only a click away, and online consumers are easily distracted.

 

For additional information from HookLogic, please visit here.