I recently began pondering over the way our entire lives have shifted to online forums such as mobile applications. We communicate with people online, and we stay connected with the world online – to the extent that we even shop for everything online!
Online shopping went from nothing to a common practice in the past few decades – that’s the first of many facts that I’ll be discussing with you today. Let’s get started with the other interesting facts about online shopping!
Approximately 2.14 Billion People Now Shop Online
If I’m talking about 2021, around 2.14 billion people have now switched to online shopping apps if they want to buy something. Simultaneously, this means that on a global level, e-commerce sales have skyrocketed to 4.891 trillion dollars!
That isn’t the surprising factor here because projections have estimated these sales to grow up to 6.4 trillion dollars by 2024. It makes no difference whether you're a buyer or a seller; you’re going to benefit significantly from this because of the convenience and competitive prices you can get.
There’s enormous potential in the e-commerce market, and sellers are working day and night to tap into the market. Due to this, you and I can now get options such as 360-degree views of a product and a range of model sizes if buying clothes!
An Estimate Of 63% Buyers First Pick Online Shopping
Only yesterday was I considering buying a new coffee maker for myself, and my immediate action was to search for one on Amazon. No matter where you purchase from, the journey of finding a good might start online for you too!
For this very reason, it has become increasingly crucial for businesses to work on their online presence because 63% of people will first consider their options online and then buy a product. Improved customer experience is the first step to ensure that a potential buyer considers your business.
With the way our digital world has been revolutionized, I can confidently say that customers have complete control over what they buy and how they buy it. Exploring online applications is simple, and there’s a high chance they might end up buying from there too!
50% Of Customers Buy Through Their Smartphones
Did you know that around 50% of the people who buy things end up purchasing through their phone rather than in-store? I am the biggest supporter of this statement because online shopping through phones has been the easiest yet most straightforward experience for me.
For any e-commerce website to be successful, developing a mobile application is an essential step that has to be taken. We, as consumers, look more at our mobile phones than desktop PCs for leisure, and various online shopping activities are inevitably done more through phones that way.
In light of this fact, store owners have invested a lot to ensure that their mobile applications are user-friendly. This is done to ensure that even if the final purchase isn’t made through the app, the experience is comfortable enough to make users return.
Taobao Is The Biggest Online Marketplace Globally
With a Gross Merchandise Value of $515 billion, the Chinese platform, Taobao, has been the most extensive online marketplace. Just for the sake of comparison, I found out that Tmall ($432 billion) and Amazon ($344 billion) have respectively ranked second and third because of their GMVs!
When considering this statistic, it was also quite interesting to find out that the major online marketplaces in the world had sold $1.66 trillion worth of goods in the year 2018! The marketplaces operated by Alibaba, eBay, and Amazon accounted for 50% of these sales in that year.
44.5% Of Users Prefer Paying By Digital/Mobile Wallets
I can vouch for this! Digital and mobile wallets have become such a convenient way to pay for goods and services that this payment method accounts for 44.5% of people who shop online. Right after this, people prefer credit/debit cards as the second and third most popular method of paying.
If you don’t know what digital/mobile wallets are, they’re something as simple as electronic devices/services used to make transactions electronically. Also known as eWallets, they can help you make online payments and pay for in-person purchases.
Samsung Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Apple Pay are the most commonly known eWallets nowadays. I prefer to pay through eWallets every single time because of the security and ease of checking out that it provides! Hence, every eCommerce store out there needs to have eWallets in its payment gateways.
Shoppers Are Now Searching For New Products
Needs and wants change with time, and a typical buyer will be expected to look for something new every time. This comes off as no surprise to me because, according to statistics, 75% of consumers have new search queries every month!
Hence, it’s a fact that people are now starting to actively search for new products every time they buy things online through applications. Not only this, but 69% of consumers have also stated that they consider it necessary to see new merchandise each time they shop!
Adapting to the changing demands of a growing customer base is the job of every eCommerce business out there. For this reason, online retailers need to customize the online shopping experience for their customers by providing new and innovative products along with a wide variety – if they wish to succeed, of course!
People Are Guilty Of Selling Bizarre Stuff On The Internet
The first time I heard this I was surprised, but in 2007, a man named Pablo Penalver started using eBay and decided to sell his soul for £47.51! To think about it, what’s weirder? Buying a soul or selling a soul?
Not only this, but a man from the UK also put his Christmas leftovers up for auction starting at $0.01, and the bid went up to $338! I found it even funnier to read that the gum that Britney Spears spat out at a concert in Wembley was sold for $14,000 on the internet!
You could, without a shadow of a doubt, sell anything and everything on the internet. However, if you’ve been thinking about it, selling your soul isn’t permitted anymore – just for your information!
Generation X Shops The Most Online
You must’ve heard the phrase that millennials are stuck on their phones; they’re constantly texting and playing games, that they can’t live without the internet for even a second! Let’s prove these people wrong because it is Generation X that shops the most.
This means that the likely age of most online buyers is 40 to 60 years, and millennials don’t even come second on this list! The second place goes to boomers born in the years 1946 to 1964 – how ironic, right?
Millennials actually come third in this list!
Avail Of Free Shipping
Only I know how many times I’ve abandoned my cart because I don’t want to pay the shipping costs for a product. On the other hand, if a product is even slightly more expensive but comes with free shipping, I might end up purchasing it right away!
This is more of a psychological impact on people than a literal one. Most online shopping applications even provide free shipping on high-value orders to call in for more sales, and I find that approach very clever!
Word of mouth plays a significant part in boosting income and attracting buyers, so if you have such free-shipping campaigns, you’ll likely see more customers buying from you too.
Men Are Likely To Spend More While Shopping
This may come off as a surprise to every guy out there who thinks that their spouse or partner purchases things online more than them. It turns out that men spend 68% more on online shopping than women do!
When speaking in terms of averages, men would spend around $220 on every transaction while women spend an average of $151 on every transaction. Well, this is mainly because men purchase more technology and luxury items!
On the other hand, women are more likely to purchase makeup, clothes, and food. Females, in general, like to spend on cheaper items too! Men also like to buy in bulk, which also supports the fact at hand.
Conclusion
To wrap up, I do not doubt that the world of online shopping is evolving significantly due to technological advancements and competition in markets.
So, if you’re a businessman or are aiming to be one, consider all of these facts before planning your social media presence – they will come in handy, I can guarantee you that!
