What Do People Dislike About Online Shopping?

In an industry where double-digit growth has previously been the norm, it would seem
hard to imagine finding much dissatisfaction amongst its consumers. Online shopping,
one would gather, offers benefits that would attract anyone who has a computer with
access to an internet connection. Although not everyone has that access (in the
United States over 50% of the US population is now connected to the Internet), those
that do are not 100% convinced that online shopping is the way to go.

In finding out about the why, what and how of online shopping, you may be surprised by
why people shop online, what they dislike about shopping online, and how online shopping
might change to continue growing in the future as it has in the past.

Online buyers are shifting a greater share of their purchases from the traditional brick and
mortar stores to the web in search of more convenience, cost savings, and broader product
selection. These three “whys” of online shopping were found to be consistent throughout
the research for this article. According to an October 2008 report by Forrester Research,
in a survey of 1000 adult online buyers, 48% expect to find the best values online (that’s
up from 41% in 2007). In a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project entitled
“Online Shopping:Convenient but Risky”, the whys were similar. Of the people surveyed
for the report, 78% stated convenience while another 68% cited saving time as the reasons
for shopping online.

Further evidence of the reasons why people shop online was reported in June 2008 by
ERetail in their “Top 100 Online Retail Index” . The major factors for shopping online were
financial(26%), gas prices(16%) and the economic outlook(14%). Additionally, 34% of those
surveyed said they planned on spending more money shopping online. If financial and the
economic outlook are about savings, then gas prices (not driving to the store?) is about
savings and convenience. And of those planning to spend 34% more, they probably have
found out about the broad product selection.

If the “whys” of people shopping online seemed consistent, then so will the “whats” of things
that people dislike. It’s not surprising that in an industry with such dramatic growth (more on
that later), technology glitches and process management have combined to create some
dissatisfaction. That those same areas of dissatisfaction are consistent tells us that those
areas can be improved if not totally eliminated.

In a Nielsen Consumer Report/Global Survey conducted in February 2008, the top security
concerns regarding online shopping were reported. The first concern was not receiving the
item(s) purchased or receiving different item(s) than what was purchased. The second
security concern was that personal information would be sold to a third party. Lastly, the third
concern was financial information being stolen. Referring back to the Pew Project, it was
reported that 75% of those surveyed were concerned about both financial and personal
information being secure. The other area of concern was regarding the amount or the way
which online shopping information was presented, with 58% stating they found that information
to be overwhelming. The Privacy Rights Clearing House, a report titled “Online Shopping Tips:
Ecommerce and You” cited the number one concern of online shoppers as a combination of
Pew research piece. Those online shoppers in the Privacy Rights piece declared that not only
should the payment and product process be secure, but that both the financial and purchase
information be simplified, not in any way overwhelming.

If Ecommerce growth will be fueled to some degree by increased spending of current online
buyers, then attracting new online shoppers seems to be a key factor in the equation of
continued growth. However, although online shoppers agree to the benefits (convenience,
savings, selection), most also agree on the detractions (financial and personal information
security, the purchase process). Let’s take a look at some of the numbers to see how change
could affect growth.

If we look back at the Forrester Research report of October 2008, we find some of those
interesting numbers. Forty-seven percent of online shoppers plan to spend the same amount
in the next twelve months. Further stated, 27% plan to spend more and 26% plan to spend
less money. By my math, that adds up to basically flat growth. The US Department of
Commerce projects the 2008 growth for online shopping to be about 7% (the DOC tracked the
industry’s growth rate at 20% plus since 1999). Additionally, eMarketer reports the 2008 holiday
season (November & December) grew at about 10%. Combining the DOC and eMarketer
findings, we do see some growth but not at near the double-digit rates of years past.

So what’s an industry to do? Referring again to Pew finds an interesting analysis. Pew
measured the combined effect of making non-online shoppers comfortable with some of the
hesitancy of shopping online. The data gathered reflected financial/personal information, the
purchase process, along with the previous “whys” regarding savings, convenience and
selection. Improving the confidence of non-online shoppers in these areas could have an overall
impact of as much as 12% growth. If you consider that some of the drop-off in growth may be
due in part to economic concerns around the world, then sustained ecommerce growth seems
very much a potential outcome.

In closing, because online shopping is such a dynamic industry, the technical and processing
aspects will only continue to improve. As those two areas seem to be at the root of any
dissatisfaction with online shopping, those improvements are probably in place and taking
affect. Making online shopping a better experience benefits all of us –
those who provide it and those who use it.

Jackie Caggz
NeverPayFullPrice Online Shopping