• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 9, 2017

Digital marketing agency Adtaxi is out with a new survey on U.S. ecommerce trends.  If nothing else, it reinforces the extent to which Americans now rely on the internet for procuring goods and services.

The agency said its study was conducted online using Survey Monkey. Some 1,000 participants were polled, spanning across the U.S. The demographic of those polled represented a broad range in household income, geographic location, age and gender.

Among the findings: More than half of consumers (55%) would be happy to purchase everything online. Well, they didn’t survey me, but if they did and they presented the query as a yes or no question, I’d have to answer no. I’d never buy a house online, although I know there are some online property auctions.

And progressive lens for glasses? Fagetaboudit. They can barely get that right in-store.

A third of consumers would buy a car online, per the survey. Without a real-world test drive? That’s crazy talk. But the credit-card rewards points must be pretty awesome.

Nearly 60% of consumers buy clothing online in a typical month. That I believe, because going shopping for clothes in a physical store (especially malls and department stores) is one of the suckiest experiences on the planet.

And I love this finding: Shipping costs are consumers’ least favorite (40%) aspect of shopping online. Amazon figured that one out a while ago.

And 72% of us purchase something online at least once a month. Yep, it’s an ecommerce world we live in today, no doubt.

Of course, comparison shopping is a big part of the ecommerce experience. Nearly 90% of consumers have gone to a retail store first and then looked for better prices online.

About the same percentage of those polled have also done shopping research online before going to a retail store. A majority (54%) of consumers who do research online first ask the retailer to match the online price.

“These findings show a clear and growing interest from consumers to move away from traditional brick-and-mortar retail models and more toward ecommerce,” stated Evan Tennant, national director of ecommerce at Adtaxi.

“With the digital evolution of retail, consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to the convenience of shopping from their couch, on the go, or virtually anytime they need things most—and all at the most competitive prices—something that was never possible before,” he adds.

That said, it’s dinner time. Think I’ll order in tonight. Online, of course.