Online shopping not a perfect experience

One third of online shoppers experienced glitches during this holiday season, according to research from eCommerce solutions provider Guidance. The nationwide survey found that 36% of people looking for the perfect gift online met technical difficulties. Web hosting related issues included crashed websites and inability to complete purchases.

Source: guidance.com

"Among the survey's major findings:

• Women were more likely to say their purchases were completed without incident (44 percent, compared with 36 percent of men).
• Respondents at both ends of the age spectrum seemed to have more problems than their counterparts overall: just 35 percent of both the 18-24 and the 65+ age groups said their shopping was incident-free, versus 40 percent of the overall sample. Respondents 25-54 were most likely to say their online shopping was incident-free: 44.5 percent of those 25-34, 46.5 percent of those 35-44, and 40 percent of those 45-54.
• That might explain why the youngest and oldest also were the least likely to shop online: nearly half of both groups (45 percent of those 18-24, and 48 percent of those 65+) said they didn’t shop online at all this holiday season. The group most active online were those between the ages of 35 and 44: just one-quarter of them (26 percent) did not shop online.
• Those with higher incomes had an easier time of it: just 27.5 percent of those who earn less than $25,000 per year said they didn’t encounter problems, compared with 46 percent of those who earn more than $75,000.
• Weather wasn’t the only thing bedeviling those in the nation’s midsection. Respondents in the Midwest were far more likely to experience problems: only 29 percent reported no problems, compared with 44 percent for those in both the Northeast and the South, and 42.5 percent of those in the West. Respondents in the Midwest were also least likely to shop online: nearly half (46 percent) said they didn’t shop online, while just 30.5 percent of those in the Northeast agreed."

Separate research by comScore showed that the volume of online purchases decreased by 3%, compared to 2007.

"In the period of December 1-24 vs. the corresponding shopping days last year, several top retailers achieved growth in visitation to their sites. eBay remained the most visited retail site with 85.4 million visitors but saw a slight decline of 4 percent in visitors, while three of the top five most visited sites recorded gains. Amazon Sites grew 7 percent to 76.2 million visitors, followed by Wal-Mart (up 4 percent to 51.5 million visitors), Target (down 1 percent to 46.8 million visitors) and Apple Inc. (up 19 percent to 35 million visitors)."

 

 

Sources:
http://guidance.com/press.asp?release=20090105
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2658