Understanding the behaviour of online shoppers is one of the most vital parts - if not the most vital part - of any e-commerce business.
In our recent survey, we asked just under 1,000 Australians about their online shopping habits.
The results are in - and there’s some pretty fascinating stuff to take away. Need to make some key business decisions? Take a scroll through some of our insights, or let the pie charts do the talking.
1. Online shopping is expected to boom in the next 12 months. Are you prepared?
Regardless of gender or age, Australians are planning to shop more online in the next 12 months.
This really should come as no surprise to anyone, considering the exponential growth of all e-commerce businesses, expedited by the pandemic.
Our takeaway? Your target audience is definitely out there - if you’re not finding them, it’s time to find a new approach to reaching them.
2. Aussies want their products ASAP, and without added costs
Fast/free shipping was the most popular incentive for online shoppers.
With so much competition out there, having free and fast shipping is certainly a compelling advantage to have a part of your e-commerce business.
Other key takeaways include the importance of a well-designed website, discounts on first orders, and customer reviews.
3. The hype around Buy Now Pay Later isn't as big as it may seem...
...At least according to our survey responders.
This is an interesting one, considering that PayPal just made their ‘pay in 4-instalments’ available to Australians, and Apple just announced that they’re working on their own BNPL service.
Surprisingly, Gen Zs’ and Gen Xs’ were the generations that found BNPL the least compelling e-commerce feature, with only 1% of survey users from both generations ranking it as a #1 incentive.
BNPL was the most enticing feature for Baby Boomers, with 4% citing it as the #1 incentive for online shopping.
Overwhelmingly, 64% of survey respondents ranked BNPL as the least important online shopping feature.
So, if you’ve got BNPL, it certainly won’t be harming your business - but if it’s not currently viable for your business, it most likely won’t be a deal breaker for your shoppers.
4. Tech rules online spending
While technology is a highly popular online shopping category for males, females and non-binary folk, fashion and apparel was mostly popular for those who identify as female.
63% of male respondents purchase technology online, while 68% of female respondents purchase fashion and apparel online.
5. Looking for a way to tap into the Gen Z market? Use reviews.
19% of Gen Zs’ ranked customer reviews as the #1 incentive for online shopping.
In other words, Gen Zs’ care about social proofing: As the generation raised with the internet, they’re inherently skeptical, and want proof of a product’s value before they commit to a purchase.
Top trick? Don't just include the good reviews - show how you're committed to improving by taking on all forms of feedback. It'll add to your brand's trustworthiness, as well as the reliability of the positive reviews.
6. Aussies trust Amazon and eBay
When it comes to purchasing new products online, the OG marketplaces are the place to go for Aussies.
If we were to take a educated guess at why (we are digital marketing experts, after all), we’d say that it's because Amazon and eBay have spent a lot of time and money establishing themselves as a trustworthy business, letting customer reviews be a strong component of their business modelling, and simplifying the search.
Beyond this, their subscription services - Amazon Prime and eBay Plus - allow for fast and free shipping. They’ve also taken the hard work out of finding a product - it’s as simple as typing keywords into their search bar.
Now if you’re a small business you may be thinking - okay, and?
Take a few pages straight out of eBay and Amazon’s book:
Online shoppers want to find new products they're searching for quickly, easily + without any guesswork. Implement this into your e-comm business with a streamlined web design that prioritises usability on both desktop and mobile.
You could have the best product in the world - but if it's hard to reach, your customers won't stick around to convert.
7. The buzz of ApplePay is yet to out-perform traditional payment methods.
The buzz of ApplePay and GooglePay has yet to overtake credit cards or PayPal as the preferred payment method.
While PayPal is popular across all age groups, it is used less by younger generations.
55% BabyBoomers, 57% of Gen Xs, 50% of Millennials and 43% of Gen Zs use the online financial service.
PayPal is preferred by older generations, with younger age groups less inclined to use the encrypted payment method.
Comparatively, ApplePay and GooglePay are most actively used by younger generations - used by nearly half of Gen Z shoppers, but only 7% of Baby Boomers.
8. Male shoppers may need more convincing start subscription services
Males were more on the fence about starting online subscription services, suggesting that they’d need more convincing before they committed to a subscription.
So, if you’ve got a product that primarily targets male shoppers, it'd be worthwhile spending time to highlight the pain points that your subscription service address.
So there you have it.
Of course, this is only scratching the surface of the data - if you want further info, specific insights, or even some expert digital marketing advice, get in contact with the DataSauce team today.
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