Online Shopping, E-Commerce Sales Increase Because of "Perceived" US Recession
eTaildTail friends over at Marketing Vox have an interesting study that mirrors the correlation I hypothesized about 6 months ago of the increase in fuel prices, and the credit crunch, to an increase in internet and mobile shopping.
In those comments, I stated that people still like to buy/consume and, while they have less money to spend due to stagnant wages and high gas prices, would turn to internet e-commerce and mobile shopping as a means to buy products to save money and avoid spending money on gas to buy products at brick and mortar stores. Furthermore, I stated that once they start to shop online, or via mobile commerce, they would also be introduced to price savings, and other offers, that they were of unaware of before. In turn, this would lead to increased loyalty to the online and mobile shopping experience into the future from new online shoppers.
It seems that my thoughts now have some credibility in statistics. The great news for small to mid-sized e-commerce merchants is that a whole new group of people are learning how powerful, cost-effective, and easy online and mobile shopping is and existing online shoppers are still shopping.
What Does This Mean For the Future of Online and Mobile Shoppping?
My next hypothesis, and you can hold me to this, is that as many new online shoppers will shop online because of:
- adverse economic conditions
- flat pricing plans to surf online from mobile carriers
- better shopping interfaces by e-commerce storefronts,
- better "shopping experiences" from shopping destination portals as Amazon, eBay, Like.com, mShopper.com, mPoria.com, PriceGrabber, Shop.com, Shopzilla, and many others, and
- ongoing better pricing, special offers, reduced shipping costs, and other incentives from the e-commerce merchant.
New and "old" online shoppers will become more enamored with online and mobile shopping and continue to use these channels/avenues to buy products than ever before, even after the US economy rebounds.
This, in turn, will result in driving more online sales into the future and help to exceed Wall Street expectations of 13-15% year-over-year growth in online and mobile shopping. I am still targeting 20% - 25% year-to-year growth into 2015.
We will see!
-- Chip Arndt
From Marketing Vox:
"One-third (33 percent) of online US adults are more likely to shop online, rather than at a store, because of high gas prices, according to a Harris Interactive study conducted for iCongo - writes MarketingCharts.
Some highlights from the study:
Incentives
Consumers give various other reasons they would be more likely to shop online as opposed to a physical store:
- 57 percent cite free shipping.
- 55 percent cite lower prices.
- 61 percent cite the ability to shop at any time.
If a store were..."
Please <<<CLICK HERE>>> to read full article from Marketing Vox.
Online businesses do better when people want to spend money. There's perceived savings with online shopping, but the first two sites you mention Amazon & eBay take a hefty commission for independent sellers. While online stores have less overhead than B&M, the savings aren't as great as some would imagine.
Posted by: Sun | June 12, 2008 at 11:41 AM