Women are behind eCommerce

Women are behind eCommerce

Kathleen Shrimpton | 4/10/2011

SheSpot recently conducted a study revealing the impact of technology for Australian women on their purchase cycle (link to study). Some of the key findings were:

• 94% make purchases directly online
• 93% of women research new products online
• 91% of women locate their nearest store online
• 90% of women compare prices online

When SheSpot enquired as to why women like to shop online, the highest response with 93% was that ‘It’s Convenient’. Other responses that were also selected included ‘I can research my purchase better’ (68%), ‘Larger selection and greater variety; (43%), and ‘I can buy things that are not available offline in Australia’ (56%). 

The reason ‘It’s Convenient’ received the highest number of responses is because it sums up all of the other reasons. Never before has it been so convenient to browse through a variety of shops, compare prices and research the best products without even leaving your chair. 

The top four products that were purchased online for Australian women during the study were: ‘Entertainment/Tickets’ (80%), ‘Travel’ (76%), ‘Clothing & Apparel’ (60%) and ‘Beauty’ (48%). 

I don’t intend to generalise about female shopping, but I have to say that the results from this study make a lot of sense, for me anyway. 

I know that before I buy a product the first thing I always do, almost routinely is look at reviews. Of course this doesn’t apply to me buying a chocolate bar, or a new t’shirt, but when it comes to products that are a little on the expensive side, it’s straight to the review sites. I personally like the convenience of being able to gather an array of opinions on a product. It’s almost essential for me so that I know what I’m getting before I make the purchase.  You can’t always trust the sales person telling you ‘that this is the best on the market’. 

It’s not only the convenience of having access to all of the necessary information from your computer that has impacted the way Australian women shop, but also the convenience of accessing this information on the go, either on a smartphone or tablet especially for reasons such as locating your nearest store, price alerts and tracking sale items. 

While it is essential for online retailers to give the best price, the best information and the overall best experience for their customers they also need to give the best mobile and tablet experience as well. With the use of smartphone and tablets for online shopping on the rise, and with the very impressive statistics for online shopping for Australian women, it shows that this is definitely where online retailers need to focus on. 

tags: e-commerce ,  Web Development