Electronics Sales Most Often Lost to Web

October 21, 2011

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Electronics is the category mentioned most by both all shoppers and smartphone owners as the type of product checked out in the store and purchased somewhere else online, according to data released in October 2011 by Retrevo. Forty-eight percent of all shoppers, and 58% of smartphone owners, report purchasing electronic goods elsewhere online after looking at them in a store.

The next category on this list is shoes (32% of all shoppers and 41% of smartphone owners), followed by apparel (31% of all shoppers and 39% of smartphone owners). All product categories are ranked in the same order by both all shoppers and smartphone owners in terms of likelihood to check out in a store and purchase somewhere else online, with smartphone owners more likely in all cases to do so.
Close to eight in 10 (78%) smartphone users have checked out a product in a store and then bought it in another store online, as have 66% of all shoppers.

Smartphones Aid In-store Shopping

More than half the smartphone respondents in this study indicated they have used a mobile device in a store to help them buy something. Most of those used their phones to check prices (42%) and get coupons (25%), but 29% also looked up ratings and reviews on products they were considering buying before making the big decision.

Most Retail App Downloaders Don’t Find Them Useful

More than four in 10 smartphone owners (43%) have installed and used a retailer’s app. However, Retrevo data indicates only 14% of those who installed them say the app helped them buy something.

Electronics Shoppers Feel Overwhelmed

More than half (53%) of the respondents in this study said they have had the experience of going to the store to buy an electronics product but couldn’t decide what to buy Forty-one percent have not had this experience, while 6% do not buy electronics products in the store. The most common reason cited (30%) for this was not having the information they needed (online prices, reviews, specs, etc.) followed by feeling overwhelmed by the number of choices. Many also felt the salesperson was of little help.

RSR: Consumers Force Mobile Retail Presence

A majority of global retailers agree that customers have evolved so rapidly they are forced to have a mobile presence, according to a September 2011 survey from RSR Research. Data from “Keeping Up with the Mobile Consumer” indicates that almost eight in 10 (78%) respondents agree with this statement, and 35% strongly agree.
In addition, 13% of respondents are neutral about customer evolution forcing a mobile presence, meaning only 9% actively disagree with the premise. In addition, 81% of respondents agree that mobile’s best uses and impact have not been fully fleshed out yet, with 24% strongly agreeing and only 10% disagreeing. Only 46% of respondents have completely different goals for mobile shoppers than e-commerce shoppers (9% strongly agree), while 35% are neutral on the subject and 19% disagree.
About the Data: The data for this report came from a study of online individuals conducted exclusively for Retrevo in October 2011 by an independent panel. The sample size was more than 1,000, distributed across gender, age, income and location in the US.
Source: www.marketingcharts.com