The UK leads the rest of Europe in terms of the amount spent online with the biggest sales on books, DVD’s, leisure and travel. Sales are estimated to reach £56 billion by 2014 so with figures like that is it still possible that people are dubious about purchasing items online?
Department stores are popular because consumers are able to get everything from under one roof. Online is exactly the same but with an endless amount of goods, consumers can sit on their chairs or sofas , order whatever they would like from underwear to remote controlled cars and it can be done 24/7.
Reasons that people worry about buying goods online vary. Some worry about their credit card information getting into the wrong hands, others worry about their personal information being used in a fraudulent way. Certain individuals are simply intimidated by the whole process and others, particularly younger people, don’t want to wait for the delivery of the goods and see it was a waste of time.
E-tailing offers different benefits depending on what the individual may want. Online individuals can:
- Reserve and collect
- Purchase and get it delivered
- Search for the best price - Three out of five consumers think that the prices offered online are better than the ones in store
- Buy online because they don’t want the human interaction
- Some items are not available in store - The internet has a limitless shop front
Statistics show that women are more dubious than men when purchasing goods online with many of them abandoning a sale if the website isn’t working as they expected. 33% of consumers worry about security and 41% prefer using a well-known retailer when buying online.
To make customers feel comfortable websites need to provide evidence that they can be trusted with consumers’ personal details and make them feel at ease. There is however 20% of consumers who would be happy buying from a website they haven’t heard of. Leading retailers, such as Argos and Marks and Spencer, have begun integrating their channels in order to make the customers experience seamless and to reassure the 80% of consumers who prefer a website they recognise.
With generations of children being taught that ordering items online is convenient and the methods becoming even more efficient the number of people purchasing goods will undoubtedly increase. There will however always be people who prefer not to purchase certain items online but without those people where would it leave the high street?
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