Consumers, especially during the current pandemic are now more than likely to turn to online shopping than venturing out onto the local high street to shop. After speaking to various companies such as www.cheapbedsale.co.uk they are seeing a steady increase on month by month online sales as the consumer looks to the internet to purchase their products and services.
Major high street retailers such as Top Shop, John Lewis, Primark, NEXT and Marks & Spencers are seeing online retailers such as BooHoo, ASOS and Amazon get a further grip on the consumer market, through ease of access and ‘shop at your leisure’ and are now having to adapt their marketing and sales strategies accordingly. Due to the substantial increase in demand for online shopping.
There has also been a huge increase in the demand from retail outlets big and small to use digital marketing agencies such as The Search Equation to redefine their marketing strategies to be more online focused and drive more traffic to their websites. As an example during last summer even the world of gardening saw a surge of online purchases for flowers and gardening equipment. The big high street firms need to adapt and embrace just not the high street shopper but the online shopper too as more and more customers are turning to the internet to purchase their products and turning away from the local shops in the high street for a wider, broader range of products.
So Why Shop Online?
Shopping online is all about accessibility and convenience, it saves time and effort. The convenience of being able to shop day or night from home or anywhere in the world at a touch of a button, be it on a mobile phone, laptop computer or tablet is becoming more appealing to the consumer as more stores start to sell their products online. Buying online also gives consumers the option to share their opinions and thoughts on the products they have purchased with other shoppers online something that cannot be done on the high street.
Below are 5 reasons as to why consumers are looking toward online shopping for their next purchase:
Comparison
One of the main reasons why people prefer to shop online is that it is easier to view and compare prices and products across multiple stores by a simple click of the mouse or tap of the screen. So rather than walking around from store to store on the high street, venturing down aisle upon aisle and trying to find that elusive bargain on the shelves, then visiting another shop to compare the price, they can simply click from one website to another and easily compare prices, quality and customer service all online, as well as read reviews from previous customers on products they are wanting to purchase.
Selection
With infinite shelf space buyers are really spoilt for choice and can purchase everything they need from groceries to tech without ever needing to leave the house or the comfort of their own armchair. With online stores able to offer a wider selection of goods and services than their high street counterparts, the consumer is truly spoilt for choice. The consumer is not confined to buying goods and services in their own country either, through buying online customers have the option to shop worldwide and without the hassle of the dreaded long queue or crowded shop. Basically, they can shop for exactly what they want when they want and how they want.
Bargains
Everybody loves a bargain, especially when it comes to items such as clothing or tech. Consumers tend to venture out onto to the high street to look at and try on clothes or shoes or test or view a product and then rather go home, go online and try to find the same product at a much better price. Due to the success with online sale ‘days’ such as ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ as well as flash sales, bargains are becoming easier to find in online retail. With more and more shops opening online stores the competitive nature of the online market will lower prices which is even more an attraction for the online shopper.
Reviews
Three in four shoppers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Google is the most popular online review platform. 57 percent of consumers use it to read reviews. 56 percent of consumers read at least four reviews before buying a product’ (Source https://www.oberlo.co.uk/)
Reviews or ‘social proof’ is like gold dust for any online store and consumers are now tending to scan through reviews before making a purchase online. A high percentage of online shopper’s trust reviews and shoppers report that online reviews are one of the most important reasons as to why they do decide to shop online. If people want to buy a product, an encouraging review is more than likely to convince the shopper to purchase, the need to see what others have thought about a product will determine whether the purchase will be made.
‘Shoppers tend to be influenced by products with the best ratings and reviews and 71% of shoppers are influenced by reviews that have photos or a video’ (source https://www.junglescout.com/).
Saves Time
Time to many people is as important as convenience, so shopping online can save the consumer the time that they feel they would have otherwise wasted by visiting one or more high street stores. Through the simplicity of a click through from viewing a product, to ordering the product, to purchasing the product or service, online shopping makes it quicker and easier to purchase a product than the local high street. With the added piece of mind of quick or free delivery and the ability to track an order makes the appeal of online shopping that all the more attractive to the consumer.
So to summarise shopping online is becoming more and more popular mainly due to instant access, being able to browse at one’s own leisure, being able to compare products and pricing easily, being able to ‘shop around’ without time constraints and no added pressure into buying a product or service. More companies are seeing a demand for e-commerce
The world hasn’t stopped it’s just gone online