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Online Shoppers Aren't Impulsive
Rollie Hawk writes "When it comes to online shoppers, conventional wisdom has long been divided. Some have argued that the instant nature of shopping from home over the Internet leads to quick purchases while others have contended that easy price comparisons on the Web allow buyers to do more research first. For now, it looks like the latter camp is closer to the truth.
According to a press release by ScanAlert, online shoppers are more frugal than many retailers previously thought. According to their testing, 35% take more than 12 hours to make a purchase, 21% take more than three days, and 14% take more than a week. On the average, online shoppers take 19 hours to make a purchase after the initial visit.
This has some important marketing ramifications according to ScanAlert CEO Ken Leonard. "The implication to merchants is that the shopping cart is not just a convenience factor. It must be a comfort zone to shoppers. These results were not expected."
In the press release, Leonard advised online sellers that "consumers abandon shopping carts with an ease that frustrates and often confuses online retailers. Retailers must understand, however, that almost half of all online purchases are from shoppers who leave a site after the first visit, and return -- even days later -- to buy.""
Here you go. $26/year or $5/month should give you access to reviews of pretty near everything under the sun.
You're welcome.
I started out impulsive. Over time I learned more and more, found more resources, found more ways to compare and for me ultimately shopping on-line has become anything BUT impulsive.
There are too many things to consider to allow impulsive buying to dominate:
I suspect the frustration for vendors is akin to the neurosis around "closing the deal", much like a car dealer: "Ken!, That's a Great name....! What do I gotta do to get you to drive off the lot in this car today?" But, that's just not the way it works, or should work for informed buyers. And vendors who get that, win.
Like the article points out, I've many times shelved an item in a shopping cart to come back to it later after more research and a self-confidence in my final decision to buy (Circuit City, et. al., take note: don't cut me off on some arbitrary limit of shopping cart items... it hurts your chances (actually cost you one sale) of the final sale).
Additionally, I've found the on-line info has made me a less impulsive Brick and Mortar shopper. There are some items I refuse (still) to purchase on-line, but that doesn't stop me from using the internet to find out as much as I can about a product before going to the store. And, I've found myself now seeing an interesting item in a Brick and Mortar, and making note of the product name/manufacture and waiting until I've researched it on the internet before buying.
I think in some ways multiple factors are in force. One, shoppers just plain old want to be more informed about their purchase (I know, not ALL shoppers, but more and more). Two, vendors have done little to earn trust (ever try purchasing a tv lately? I couldn't believe the definitions I got from sales people when trying to explain to me: hdtv vs edtv; hdtv 720 vs 1080; hdtv i vs p; sacd vs cd; et. al.). So customers now armed with research capabilities hedge their bets and verify info from multiple sources before entering CC information.
"They just won't tell me shipping costs until it's too late"
That kills me every time too. But what I especially hate is those rare sites that tack on a "handling" charge at the very last minute. Before I click "buy" I want to know exactly what I'm paying.
That's one of the great things about Newegg. They tell you what you're paying for shipping beforehand. It makes the decision so much easier.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
We decide based on the reputation of the seller and look for the lowest price. for example, when I purchased my digital rebel last year, there was some for a really good price at Broadway Photo in New York, but they have they have a Poor rating and I walked away.
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Many manufacturers put a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) into effect. They tell you that you cannot advertise their product below a certian point, if you do, they'll quit selling to you. Well online stores can get around that by not advertising a price, and just having you add it to your cart. After all, they have to give you a price when it's in your cart. Others have a little thing to "get a quote".
Sometimes it's just the stores being stupid, but often they have no choice.
Crowd psychology. Despite the timers on auctions and the last-minute blitzes, you can induce people interested in the item to bid on it by doing so yourself. If you time things right and place the bid 'just so', other people who were initially waiting to bid close to the end of the auction will instead feel compelled to jump in and make a counter-bid of their own. A little social engineering and you can start a (completely nonsensical) bidding war over something that would never have reached it's ridiculous end price otherwise.
I've done this before, just to see if it would work. It isn't at all logical, but many of the folks who frequent ebay often get excited when something like this happens and will get in on the action. I've managed to drive the price up on a selection of random items on several occasions using these tactics, and although at first I was concerned that I'd end up 'winning' something I most certainly didn't want I quickly realized the odds of that were small. If done correctly it's almost certain an over-eager easily excited bidder will hop in to claim the prize even if you drive the price up far beyond what the item would otherwise sell for.
As far as I can tell, the 'rush' of the action seems to encourage people to bid on things they normally wouldn't, and to bid higher on things they might be interested in. Logic tells them to do one thing, but adrenaline short-circuits logic. Not unlike gambling in Vegas, I'd guess.
Caveat: I haven't done this in a couple of years and have no idea if ebay has changed it's bidding system to discourage this sort of price jacking. If not, it's an amusing way to waste a lazy afternoon. "There's one born every minute...."
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
As an individual decision, you are correct. However, if as an aggregate, a significant proportion of us behave this way, we affect change in corporate behavior. I would also say that this behavior will only have an impact if management sees that they are losing sales by understaffing checkout lines. Talk to a manager and kvetch.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
outpost.com also sold my email address to spammers.
I have the paid version of Yahoo Mail which includes AddressGuard; so for every site like that I go to I can make myspamname-whatever@yahoo.com disposable addresses.
I have about 50 active versions; I made a single purchase from outpost.com and made my email "myspamname-outpost@yahoo.com"; within a week only that one began to recieve spam. Yes, I make a concious effort as well to uncheck anything that says "we will sell you out to spammers"
So, don't forget TINSTAAFL; that money has to come from somewhere.
~Rebecca
Here's what I've noticed, and some recommendations therein....
There are a lot of fly-by-night on-line vendors.... while there is no surefire way to pick them out, here are some of the red flags I've found:
I've had a couple of near disastrous experiences and those more than anything put me in "due diligence" mode. Since then I've found that by doing reasonable research I always get good results.
Bottom line recommendations... when you find a vendor that has done good by you... stick with them, you're likely to continue to get good results and they'll reward you for your loyalty (sometimes)... Pick well known reputable go-betweens.... they carry a big stick and set high standards for their partners -- amazon is one that comes to mind -- you're not going to find the best dollar prices through amazon, but I guarantee you amazon will followup and ensure all goes smoothly, from finalization of the transaction, to shipping and receiving the purchase on time and in good condition and reasonable return policies.