At this very moment, in home offices, kitchens, and living rooms all over the country, millions of Americans are on their computers, tablets, and cellphones engaging in a favorite pastime: window shopping. Online window shopping is hardly new, notes Celiena Adcock, head of GTM and Global Business Marketing at Honey, an online shopping platform that saves consumers time and money through loyalty and deal finding. “My friends do it all the time,” she says. “They’re looking to get a sense of what’s out there. They’re window shopping to get inspired.”

“Window shopping has become so important for consumers that 15% said that this is how they start each day.”

But window shopping has changed since COVID-19. As consumers work remotely and teach their kids at home, window shopping has become a source of escapism and comfort in a difficult time. In fact, according to a survey* of more than 2,000 American consumers conducted by 4Media Research in September, 58% of respondents now define themselves as window shoppers, with 41% saying they are spending their time window shopping to “take my mind off things,” and 30% explaining that window shopping helps them pass the time when they’re feeling bored. Window shopping has become so important for these consumers that 15% said that this is how they start each day.

But Are They Buying?

But are they browsing—or are they buying? For some merchants, especially those selling groceries and other utilitarian goods, sales “have skyrocketed since COVID,” notes Adcock. However, she wonders, “When was the last time you bought yourself a new pair of pants or shoes? It’s harder now because of the economic uncertainty. Plus, when are we going to go outside to work or school? When will we actually need those things? People are wary of making purchases that might seem indulgent.”

Still, survey results show that window shopping is not necessarily a day-dreaming activity. Ninety-one percent of respondents said they’ve purchased at least one item while window shopping, and more than a quarter of respondents said they made more than five purchases during their window-shopping expeditions. Just as importantly, nearly half of window shoppers said that when they’re window shopping, they are also actively making lists for future purchases, and 37% are taking screen shots of items they intend to purchase at a later date.

So, the question, Adcock says, is “how do we get their attention and show them that this is the right thing to buy—and the right time to buy it?”

Why Deals Work

“Half of all survey respondents said that a good deal would stop them in their tracks, while only 20% said that social influencers had the same impact.”

The answer, she explains, is deals. Half of all survey respondents said that a good deal would stop them in their tracks, while only 20% said that social influencers had the same impact. It’s clear, Adcock says, that a retailer that offers these shoppers a promo code or a coupon or tells them about a price reduction not only sets itself apart from the competition (and 92% of respondents said they’re shopping multiple online retailers at any one time), but also goes a long way toward convincing the browsing shopper that the time to buy is now.

The time-bound offer, adds Adcock, is especially effective. “It allows the shopper to say, ‘Hey, I’m getting a good deal. I can get this now!” With an incentive to take immediate action, the offer not only makes the consumer feel like a “savvy shopper,” she says, but it also allows them to “feel less guilty about purchasing.”

At Honey, which was acquired by PayPal earlier this year, Adcock explains that while her team generally focuses its marketing efforts on a younger, relatively affluent demographic, its recent success and the increasing word of mouth about its offers have not only enlarged but also broadened its audience tremendously.

The goal of all of Honey’s offerings is to help online shoppers, as Adcock puts it, “convert with confidence.” The company’s Savings Finder is a utilitarian tool that “lets people know they can convert from browsing to buying on the website on which they happen to be shopping. The tool aims to prevent shoppers from having to scour the internet for coupons and give them confidence that they're getting a great deal, whether or not a coupon is available. Its Honey Gold** loyalty program provides shoppers with a reward they can use at a later date each time they buy from a retailer that offers Honey Gold. And Honey Offers, which are time-bound deals, serve to tie shoppers to the website they’re shopping on. And that strategy appears to be working: The company has witnessed a 12% reduction in cross-site comparisons among shoppers who have seen a Honey Offer***.

The Additive Effect

Though Honey works with specific retailers, it sees itself as what Adcock calls “an additive” to the shopping experience that merchants develop on their own sites. “We’re like a trust builder between the shopper and the merchants,” she explains. “The retailers are doing their work to keep you online, and then we’re the trusted third party that tries to find you some of the best deals. And because we aren’t necessarily tied to one brand, we can provide a broader benefit. We know that, in the process, we’re giving shoppers a joyful feeling.”

While stopping online window shoppers in their tracks with coupons, offers, and loyalty programs might inspire those shoppers to take the leap and fill their shopping cart, it doesn’t necessarily get them past check out. As Adcock notes, “shopping cart abandonment is a crisis.”

Next week, we’ll look at why so many shopping carts are being abandoned and what merchants can do to not only counter this trend but reverse it.  

_{* An online study commissioned by Honey, a part of the PayPal offering, conducted by 4Media Research in September 2020. The study researched 2,010 adults in the U.S (general population representative) via on online survey. The overall margin of error of the overall sample is +/- 2 percentage points with a confidence interval of 95 percent. The field work took place between September 14th and September 18th, 2020. 4Media is an independent market creative research agency.}

_{** Honey Golder Terms Apply joinhoney.com/terms}

_{*** According to Honey Internal Data as of Q3 2020}