Online Shoppers Aren't Impulsive

Rollie Hawk writes "When it comes to online shoppers, conventional wisdom has long been divided. Some have argued that the instant nature of shopping from home over the Internet leads to quick purchases while others have contended that easy price comparisons on the Web allow buyers to do more research first. For now, it looks like the latter camp is closer to the truth. According to a press release by ScanAlert, online shoppers are more frugal than many retailers previously thought. According to their testing, 35% take more than 12 hours to make a purchase, 21% take more than three days, and 14% take more than a week. On the average, online shoppers take 19 hours to make a purchase after the initial visit. This has some important marketing ramifications according to ScanAlert CEO Ken Leonard. "The implication to merchants is that the shopping cart is not just a convenience factor. It must be a comfort zone to shoppers. These results were not expected." In the press release, Leonard advised online sellers that "consumers abandon shopping carts with an ease that frustrates and often confuses online retailers. Retailers must understand, however, that almost half of all online purchases are from shoppers who leave a site after the first visit, and return -- even days later -- to buy.""

Where can I buy this?

[Monf]

Where can I buy all the press releases from ScanAlert?

Talk about dedication

[L. VeGas]

" online shoppers take 19 hours to make a purchase"

I hope they take bathroom breaks.

19 hours?

[ShaniaTwain]

According to their testing, 35% take more than 12 hours to make a purchase, 21% take more than three days, and 14% take more than a week. On the average, online shoppers take 19 hours to make a purchase after the initial visit.

WOW! they must have really slow connections. maybe they should upgrade the 300 baud modem while they're at it.

They're just too worried about the bottom line...

[Anonymous Coward]

to admit that all those online shopping carts aren't being cashed out because they're being used by online hoboes.

Absolute rubbish

[Anonymous Coward]

my friend in Nigeria, Dr NMBAGO DSUSU assures me i should always proceed quickly with any transactions i make online, the more money the quicker i should proceed.

this article is just FUD to put me off collecting my 25 MILLION DOLLARS

Its true!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm still trying to decide which 3dfx card to get.

shopping carts

[Quasar1999]

I must say, I use the shopping cart at thinkgeek to make it from paycheck to paycheck... I don't have enough money to buy anything, but I pile all sorts of stuff in my shopping cart... then come payday, I purchase everything that I've accumulated over the month, then am flat broke again until next payday... but I made sure to get everything I wanted... now if only they sold food...

Re:Where can I buy this?

[Shadow Wrought]

Are you sure you don't want to wait 19 hours before comitting to that?

A fatal flaw in the study

[October_30th]

The study does not seem to address drunken online shopping...

Re:iMac

[Anonymous Coward]

No, just stupid.

The real reason

[Anonymous Coward]

The real reason is this: consumers are using MSIE on Windows and the cart is abandoned when the computer crashes. Days later, when they've reinstalled the OS, they make the purchase.

Joke or flamebait, decide for yourself. :-)

Re:Heard that before

[coreymetrics]

The reason that ecommerce sites make you add something to your cart before you see the actual price is usually to appease the manufacturers and to get around the Minimum Advertised Price that some manufacturers impose.
While it's nice to get shoppers to put things in their carts, it's not the main reason this tactic is employed.

Re:Heard that before

[noidentity]

Oh sure, ignore all the work the little bit people [hitachigst.com] have to do when you abandon a virtual shopping cart.

Re:No, it's more comparible for me

[hawk]

So you're going to spend an hour filling your cart, and abandon it because you have to wait 10 minutes,

I've abandonded carts even after checkout. In one case, after I wrote the check to get about $10 back, and the clerk snipped, "Writing over is a privilege we reserve for our regular customers." (regular meant having their check cashing card.)

I replied, as I tore up the check, "Selling groceries is a privilege I reserve for stores that let me write over." She didn't quite know how to react . . ./.

hawk