Most Americans start their e-commerce journey on the couch
Across the world, we expect more from our online shopping experiences but we use our downtime on the sofa to start our buying experiences.
New Hampshire-based content management platform Episerver has released its fourth-annual Reimagining Commerce 2020 report. The report shows that we couch shop from our mobile devices, mainly buying from the comfort of our sofa.
As mobile devices become easier to use, we spend more time engaging with them during the static moments in our lives. Across the world, the e-commerce journey begins on the couch, and 85% of Americans (and 87% of Brits) start shopping online from there.
When online shopping, almost half of Americans (49%) start their journey on their smartphone, 24% on their laptop, and 19% on their desktop. Over half (53%) shop from their mobile device daily.
Users who rarely shop online still choose their smartphones most often over other devices. For those who shopped once a year on average, over one-third (36%) tend to use their smartphones, with laptops as the second most common choice at 31%.
Episerver surveyed over 4,000 global online shoppers about their online consumer behavior and expectations. It wanted to understand shared behaviors and common trends shaping the future of e-commerce. a quarter of respondents were from the US.
Americans make purchases online often, second only to the UK in their weekly frequency. More than a quarter of consumers (27%) make online purchases at least once a week.
Over four in five (83%) of Americans expect free shipping and over a quarter (26%) now expect free same-day delivery from brands and retailers.
Over three out of four (76%) would be dissuaded from making a planned purchase because the shipping was too expensive, 52% due to bad product descriptions, and 57% would not buy due to slow website load times.
Privacy is still an issue due to respondents who are protective of their privacy. Most consumers said brands should place the same or more of a priority on respecting shoppers' online anonymity in 2020, with 55% of Americans reporting this should be more of a priority.
Direct purchases via social media are on the rise. Over one in five (21%) of consumers made a purchase directly from an ad on social media in 2019 rising to 31% so far in 2020.
One third (33%) of consumers report that a lack of security features will stop them from making more purchases via voice-enabled devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
Shoppers have increasingly high expectations of the brands and retailers they do business with, and businesses need to keep one step ahead and anticipate their customer's needs.
Cutting through the cluttered e-commerce landscape is frustrating and creating purchasing experiences that cut through the clutter can make all the difference between a successful sale – and a click away from the site.
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