When do consumers buy online

Meaghan Brophy is Fit Small Business's authority on retail and ecommerce. Agatha has a decade's worth of experience writing online content for small business and marketing industries. She also served as a content strategist and digital marketing manager for many entrepreneurs.

Sign up to receive more well-researched small business articles and topics in your inbox, personalized for you. Fit Small Business content and reviews are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More. Published October 19, Table of Contents. Millennials are the largest group of online shoppers in the US Millennials aged 25 to 34 comprised There are a number of ways to add an online store component , which allows you to reach a larger customer base than a traditional retail store alone.

Although the growth rate of ecommerce should not be ignored, in-store shopping will not completely go away. Instead, it will evolve. We are seeing it happen with curbside pickup, click and collect , augmented reality, and artificial intelligence AI assistants. Explore events, markets, pop-up shops , and other in-person retail activities to appeal to all groups. Your permanent retail store is still important. Key Takeaways: Free shipping is one of the leading drivers of online sales.

Learn how to offer free shipping on your products. Read our tips on how to grow your ecommerce business. Learn how to offer customer financing and buy now, pay later options to your customers. Setting up a blog on your site is one of our recommended ecommerce marketing strategies. You may use it to provide valuable information for research purposes or highlight local products and artisans. Key takeaways: Your desktop and mobile sites are equally important.

Using an ecommerce platform like BigCommerce or Shopify makes it easy to create a responsive, mobile-optimized experience for all online shoppers. Eliminate distractions in your product images and make sure they stand out and are clear to see, even on small devices—learn how to take high-quality product photos.

Try to be detailed but concise when writing descriptions for your products. Customers tend to quickly scan items on mobile devices, so ensuring they scroll less when reading descriptions can help increase online conversions. Learn to write product descriptions that sell. Leverage technology to enhance the ecommerce journey. You can also create a virtual tour of your store to entice shoppers to visit. Key takeaways: Facebook and Instagram are the most popular social media platforms consumers use for purchasing online.

Reach these shoppers by setting up a Facebook Shop and using it to create a shoppable Instagram page. These platforms also provide many tools for listing products and creating ads to help drive more sales. Mix your social content with engagement and promotional posts. Read our guide on social media marketing and how to collaborate with influencers.

Key takeaways: If foot traffic is slow or your retail store is closed, consider using it as a fulfillment or warehouse space. Adopt new processes like curbside pickup, local delivery, or click and collect to encourage more sales.

Shop around with different carriers to find the most cost-effective option for you. Remember to balance budget and delivery time. You can also consider allowing the customer to choose from various shipping options. Encourage customers to shop by having a clearly communicated return policy that includes free shipping.

Have it easily displayed in your website footer, in product pages, and the FAQ section. Create as few steps as possible to make it easy for shoppers to complete a purchase. Incorporate automated abandoned cart emails into your retail email marketing strategy.

Once you set it up, the email will be automatically sent without manually triggering the follow-up campaign each time. According to a recent study, in March , 42 percent of the US population purchased their groceries online at least once a week GeekWire, This marks a stark increase from 22 percent just two years ago.

Daily online grocery sales have also as much as doubled. But this is more than just a temporary boost. Amazon has been the most popular platform for these shoppers, with six out of every ten doing their online grocery shopping with the ecommerce giant.

In fact, demand has grown so much that orders for groceries on Amazon have increased by as many as 50 times. It comes as no surprise that the needs of shoppers are constantly growing. Online shoppers are in demand of new products constantly. Ecommerce businesses need to keep up with the needs of consumers. The ecommerce industry is more dynamic than ever before, and retailers must evolve side by side to be able to succeed.

Online retailers need to prepare to customize the shopping experience for their customers. By providing them with new products, they can enhance the shopping experience for their audience. Not only does this give the customers more variety when shopping, but also fewer reasons to go look somewhere else.

By updating your product offerings, you could be staying a step ahead of your competition. So we know by now that people are shopping online, but how often do they do it? In addition to that 26 percent of online shoppers shop online once a week, and 3 percent claim to shop once a day.

With so many people shopping online regularly or looking for products to buy online, shoppers find themselves in a state of indecision. Not only do they admit to spending time researching, but the same research shows that shoppers feel overwhelmed by the number of options they encounter when browsing. Around half of the online shoppers 46 percent have failed to complete a purchase online because there were too many options to choose from.

Online businesses have the opportunity and the responsibility to smoothen the customer decision-making process. Brands can do this through a multi-step commerce journey. For instance, businesses can reach out to their customers through email, by giving them information on the latest offers, or communicate with them through social media channels.

The coronavirus pandemic sparked panic-buying in many countries all over the world both in in-person shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies as well as in ecommerce shops. As expected, essential items and in particular medical products saw a massive surge in online sales. A recent survey by Adobe revealed that sales for products such as hand sanitizers, gloves, and masks grew more than percent over the first ten weeks of the year Adobe, Toilet paper and over-the-counter drugs for flu, cold and pain also flew off the online shelves, with sales jumping by percent and percent respectively.

And with gyms shutting down and outdoor movement severely limited, the demand for fitness equipment has increased by 55 percent in just the first two weeks of March alone as more people look to exercise at home. Sales of home furnishing products are also on the rise because people are not only spending more time at home but also setting up a home office. In the US, sales for home improvement products have increased by 13 percent in early March compared to about a year ago.

There are so many questions that might come to your mind about abandoned carts — the why, the what, the where, and the how. According to recent online shopping statistics, 49 percent of cart abandonments are due to high extra costs, which can include anything from shipping to taxes and fees Baymard, Load test to ensure that your site can handle traffic spikes.

Even a slightly slower site can deter shoppers through poor usability. Knowing when people are more likely to be buying can inform marketing activity. For example, busy periods is a prime entry for your cross-selling and upsell strategy to feature in your basket abandonment emails , likewise when you know there will be a greater digital footfall make sure you are ready to make the most of it.

For example, it may be wise to release new products or campaigns towards the end of the month around pay day when people are more likely to buy. Also, in periods that are traditionally quieter, marketing may need to work harder to drive customer interests and boost sales away from peak periods. For more on sales trends, along with a wealth of data on ecommerce, download our Ecommerce Stats Report. The best insights, data and customer behaviour trends before, during and after Black Friday.

He's been covering ecommerce and digital marketing for more than a decade, having previously written reports and articles for Econsultancy. ClickZ, Search Engine Watch and more. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website.

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