Retailers’ reports on Christmas revenues demonstrate that online is becoming more critical to their success. But according to a new survey conducted by market research firm OnePoll into the online shopping experiences of male and female UK consumers, poorly performing ecommerce sites risk damaging future sales both online and in physical stores.
The majority of both genders – 72% of women and 61% of men – said they have been frustrated with slow loading websites or mobile apps when shopping online. If a retailer’s website or mobile app performs poorly, both men (58%) and women (52%) tend to avoid making purchases from that website again.
Bad online shopping experiences also have an impact on High Street shopping. 51% of male respondents declared that they would be less likely to visit a retailer in-store if they’ve had a negative experience on their website or mobile app, compared to a lower percentage of women (43%).
Consumers’ patience when waiting for an ecommerce site to load is short. Male and female shoppers differ slightly on how long they’re willing to wait for a home page to load before abandoning it – male shoppers say 10 seconds while female shoppers say 20 seconds. Two minutes is the longest both men (25%) and women (20%) are willing to attempt to deal with all steps from the checkout process before they abandon the page. Women, on the other hand, are more willing than men to wait 5 minutes or longer to successfully complete online transactions.
The study reveals different reasons both genders would be willing to wait longer than usual during the checkout process when shopping online. Products on sale take the first place, with 65% of women and 54% of men willing to wait patiently in order to buy their desired item. Reason number two is if the item is not available anywhere else, and third is if the item is one of a kind. In this regard, the survey also reveals that another top reason for women (47%) is the presence of discount codes, compared to just 31% of men.
Mehdi Daoudi, CEO and co-founder of Catchpoint, commented:
“As more retailers reveal how much revenue growth comes from their online presence, the ability to constantly monitor how customers are experiencing digital services is going to be critical. Whether male or female, it looks like the Great British Shopper expects a rich and responsive online experience that enables them to find and pay for what they want with minimum fuss.”
*Market research firm OnePoll surveyed 1000 UK consumers with half women and the other half men of all ages.
Interesting links:
- How to keep up with customer expectations when moving into bricks and mortar
- Does Online Experience Affect Bricks and Mortar Shopping?
- Forget Omni-Channel; It’s the Omni-Experience that Counts