Customers Are Now Shifting from the Brick-and-Mortar Channel to Digital Shopping

Adtaxi, one of the country’s growing digital marketing agencies, just released the results of its 2018 “Online Shopping and Technology Trends Survey.” As an inaugural initiative, the survey examined Americans’ online shopping habits, behaviors, and preferences with topics covering from voice assistants and augmented reality to privacy concerns to mobile apps and beyond.
 
“There is no question that the ecommerce market is exploding, and that consumers are increasingly making purchases online,” says Evan Tennant, National Director of Ecommerce at Adtaxi. “To meet the increasing demand, the technological landscape is quickly advancing with consumer preferences, and our survey captures a snapshot of the exciting evolution currently reshaping the shopper experience.”
 
Below are key findings from the study:
 

  • Online Shopping vs. In-Store Shopping: 66 percent of respondents make an online purchase at least once a month. Over half (52 percent) of ecommerce shoppers spend as much, or more, of their dollars online than in-store.
  • Augmented Reality (AR): 10 percent have used an AR app for online shopping (e.g. virtually “trying on” clothing or viewing how furniture would look in a home), 67 percent of whom would never again shop in-store for clothes if AR made it possible to do so.
  • Voice Assistants: 27 percent own a voice-activated smart device, such as the Amazon Echo or Google Home; 24 percent have used one to make a purchase.
  • Privacy Concerns: 64 percent of respondents are concerned about a voice-activated smart device threatening their privacy; 46 percent of them would not let this concern stop them from purchasing one.
  • Purchase Behavior: 63 percent have made an online purchase prompted by seeing a digital ad; most (60 percent) of those prompted to make an online purchase saw the ad on social media.
  • Mobile and Text: 65 percent have used a mobile app for online shopping, the most popular reason being that mobile apps are easy to use (51 percent). Meanwhile, 82 percent of consumers would not consider receiving texts from brands, even if the ad was personally relevant.
 
One of the most surprising take-aways from this finding is that customers do not only enjoy shopping online, they also want to shop by voice. With mobile technology growing so rapidly, consumer behavior is changing fast as well. It’s possible that voice shopping will be the new activity while driving to work. If that happens, it may create a resurgence in billboard advertising and radio, the modes that can reach consumers in their cars.
 
“We now live in an on-demand world, where customers are beginning to favor innovations that make purchases faster, more efficient, and pain-free,” Tennant says. “As this survey indicates, technologies like voice-activated devices and AR have gained traction and are on the fringe of becoming mainstream in the next few years—which we anticipate will cause a shift toward consumers shopping more heavily online.”
 
According to another study released by Namogoo, consumers usually multitask when they shop online. The most common thing consumers are doing when they’re shopping online is working. More than 57 percent of online shoppers have shopped at work. The other popular things that online shoppers do when they’re shopping are: household chores, in-store comparison shopping, cooking, dining out, and running errands.
 
Given that so much shopping is done while people are doing other things, marketers need to know what makes for a great shopping experience? The most important is clear product images—more than 87 percent of people say that’s part of a great online shopping experience for them. The second most important factor for a great online shopping experience is reviews, slightly more important than product descriptions and not something that all retailers focus on. The least important item, despite the explosion in video content generally, is product videos. As technology offers consumers new ways to use their time, they will try to create more opportunities for simultaneous productivity and personal time. Marketers have to be proactive on trends and keep an eye out for changes in consumers’ behaviors much more than before.
 

Recent Content

Membership and Pricing

Videos and podcasts

Membership and Pricing