Stark reality of home shopping
Stark Reality of home shopping
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ONE IN five remote shoppers is dropping out due to negative experiences, according to a new survey – potentially a staggering six million lost customers.
While two thirds of UK adults claim to have shopped by mail order or telephone at least once, and one in five online, they tend to give retailers only once chance to get it right before reverting to traditional methods, say the findings. The Reality Check on Remote Shopping found that 90 percent of all respondents rated ‘getting it right first time’the most important part of shopping and 84 percent demanded the vital reassurance of human contact via telephone.
The biggest challenge for remote retailers was the’touchy feely’factor – the need for customers to touch products. But those who did buy showed a high level of customer and brand loyalty and three quarters were’extremely satisfied’with delivery. Remote retailers just do not do enough to convince shoppers of the benefits, says the report. Easy credit, wide choice and low prices, among the old reasons for home shopping, are now much more widely available elsewhere and remote retailers have failed to replace them with equally compelling new benefits.
Other findings included:
Internet usage patterns change when it comes to shopping: men surf (60 percent to 40 percent), women shop (59% to 4 1 %).
.Despite the UK becoming an increasingly’time poor society, the expected benefits of remote shopping remain surprisingly low, especially for traditional home shoppers. It is hoped this may be improved over time with the emergence of interactiveTV.
.Almost half of those who chose home shopping last Christmas bought at least 20 percent of their non-grocery purchases that way.
The research was undertaken by Reality, the £400m business outsourcing company, to identify the issues retailers, e-retailers and manufacturers must address if they are to realise the full potential of the remote shopping marketplace. Chief Executive Martin Trees said: “The results make very salutary reading. Alhough the highest proportion of dropouts are among traditional mail order shoppers, the same problems appear to arise across all new shopping channels, with 18 percent of those who have tried online shopping also claiming that they are unlikely to do it again in the near future. We ignore these warnings at our peril.”
