• by Ray Schultz , May 24, 2022

Email is by far the preferred medium of electronics buyers for receiving back-in-stock messages, according to Consumer Electronics Ecommerce Strategy: Make Every Moment Count In 2022, a study released Tuesday by Lucidworks.  

Of the U.S. and U.K. consumers polled, 78% prefer email, versus 44% who favor texts and 12% who want the item auto-added to the cart.

Overall, 90% of customers want to be notified when an item is back in stock. 

The news comes as more than half of consumers have found preferred electronics products to be out-of-stock frequently or at every visit when shopping online, the study found.

And 62% of consumers will shop elsewhere if their favorite consumer electronics retailer doesn’t have what they want. But 20% will look for a substitute on the same site. although they often will not find it: 68% sometimes receive recommendations, but only 20% say they are always offered on websites always recommend substitutes and 12% of usually end up on a “no results” page 

Of the U.K. shoppers polled, 40% rarely buy a substitute, versus 25% of U.S. consumers. 

Shoppers will most often not buy a substitute if doesn’t match their taste or is outside of their price range. 

Among the products they would never buy a substitute for are gaming systems, televisions and mobile phones. 

Being told an item is out will make 85% more likely to buy.  

The study also found that 70% of online shoppers prefer to have online purchases delivered rather than picking them up in-store.  

Lucidworks surveyed 803 respondents who shop online for consumer electronics at least once a month, 403 in the U.K. and 400 in the U.S., in March of this year.

Of this sample, 53% four four times a year, 26% once every two months and 20% once a month or more.