E-commerce Statistics 2009

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E-commerce Statistics from a PoLR Survey in 2009

We recently set up a survey to find out what people thought of shopping online, how they navigated through an online shop and whether they felt it was safe. Some of our results were surprising and some were as expected. All results were helpful though and we have created this lens for anyone out there who is unsure about e-commerce and wants some hard and fast facts.

View all our e-commerce results here >>

So, without any further ado, our results are as follows:

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What stops someone buying online

First off, we wanted to know what puts a user off buying online. Is it bad design, difficult checkouts or simply changing minds?

We found the following results.

Broken checkout that stops purchase completion - 45.16%
Checkout requesting too much information - 38.71%
Confusing Checkout - too many steps - 24.19%
Lack of company information, returns info etc? - 20.97%
Unexpected shipping charges - 51.61%
Other - 17.74%

As we expected, broken checkouts are the main cause of abandoned shopping carts at around 45%.

Among others, the 'other' category included:

- Their own credit/debit card not working
- A feeling of a lack of security

For more results see our post What stops a buyer buying?

Do people really shop for that..?

Next we were keen to find out what visitors to an e-commerce site actually shopped online for and most importantly, how much they are willing to spend.

The top five products to buy online (according to our survey) are:

1. Books
2. Holidays
3. Music, DVD's & Video Games
4. Electricals
5. Clothing

It is worth noting that 66% of our survey participants restricted themselves to spending a max. of £500 online in one purchase.

We have loads more results including Christmas shopping habits at our post Who shops for what online?

Go on, buy, buy, BUY!

Another question (but not he last!) we wanted to gather information on was what actually persuaded someone to buy online in the first place? The results were brilliant for this question with the top three results being:

1) Search Engine
2) Previous knowledge (used before or well known brand)
3) Recommendation

An excellent result for someone who works for an SEO company ;-)

It was also quite clear that users were more than savvy enough to know that they should research a company before buying online. 71% of our survey participants looked to online reviews before buying. Makes a pretty strong case for good customer service doesn't it!?

We have more results on the Persuading an online sale blog post.

E-commerce Statistics

Persuading an Online Sale
What makes people buy online
Instore v's Online shopping
Why someone chooses to buy online or instore
Who shops for what online
popular shooping item online
What stops a buyer buying
Why a user may abandon a sale
Internet Usage
How often people us the internet
Christmas shopping 2008
Why Christmas is a great selling opportunity

Want to know more...

PoLR provide e-commerce systems and SEO to clients throughout the UK. We believe in basing out opinions on fact and so, carried out the survey to back up our advice. We hope you find it useful and please feel free to use the statistcs but please credit us with the result (www.polr.co.uk)

Thanks!

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    MagicLogixInc May 25, 2010 @ 10:20 am | delete
    People want to feel safe when they are putting any information into a form. From putting in an email address or a credit card, people want to feel that their information is valued and is in good hands. I think credibility is everything with ecommerce. A Smooth check out process, fast loading pages, easy navigation. Sometimes the presentation alone can go a long way. Interesting Statistics! Thanks for the lens!

    Bethany Davidson
    Ecommerce Web Design Dallas

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