It’s not e-shopping it’s just me shopping
By Geometry Global
While it is generally accepted that 90% of those connected to the Internet have made online purchases, that’s where the generalizations must end. Digital technology has spawned a vast array of options, and shoppers are using these channels differently depending on where they live, how digitally savvy they are, what categories they are shopping, and many other variables.
Geometry Global’s study “Connected Shopper: A global study analyzing how digital is impacting today’s shoppers” offers an unusually rich view of how shoppers are incorporating digital into their shopping habits across a wide variety of categories. It reveals, for instance, that while only 7% of Internet users make online purchases regularly, some 65%, nonetheless, use digital channels to research and browse prior to making a purchase. Accordingly, brands and retailers must think beyond online purchase and consider the role that digital channels play in their categories before, during, and after purchase.
The Connected Shopper, based on research conducted in 12 countries across 4 continents, attempts to understand the role that digital plays at every point along what we call the shopper’s Purchase Decision Journey, and to identify both drivers and barriers to purchase that brand marketers and retailers can affect in order to increase sales.
This paper is the first in a series highlighting specific findings from the Connected Shopper study. It explores shopping trends online and off line and aims to:
- Identify global trends and underscore differences in digital use and shopping habits between countries.
- Isolate browsing and shopping activities through digital channels, across product categories and geographies.
- Highlight what shoppers want from brands in order to enhance their shopping experience.
More specifically, we show that:
- “Omni-channel shopping” does not mean all channels all the time. It means the ability to choose the single online or off line channel the person wants, when they want it, according to their lifestyle and the category they are shopping.
- Decisions throughout the Purchase Decision Journey are being made repeatedly and fluidly across both digital and physical spaces.
- There are multiple barriers to eCommerce and mobile shopping, but there is much that brands and retailers can do to address these and provoke more online shopping for business growth.
- In many fast-growing markets, shoppers are online more often, making more online purchases, and integrating digital and physical retail more frequently than are shoppers in more mature markets.
This paper unveils insights from the Connected Shopper study, which seek to understand the global digital shopper and, ultimately, maximize marketing efficiency and effectiveness in today’s rapidly changing shopping landscape.
To continue, download It’s not e-shopping it’s just me shopping (pdf, 0.35 Mb).