UK Online Shopper Decision Journey | Verdict Channel Report

Summary
Online customer decision journeys increasingly vary, with young shoppers, click and collect users and those who shop via a mobile phone all doing so in different ways. Understanding shopper behaviour is vital for success, with the importance of omnichannel development becoming evident as the value of showrooming hits ￡14.9bn in 2014.

Key Findings
- Understand how big the showrooming effect is in the UK

- Find out how young shopper behaviour differs from the average online shoppers

- Find out how mobile phone shopper behaviour differs from home online shoppers

- Understand the importance of the pre-purchase phase versus the post-purchase buying phase

Synopsis
Showrooming is set to account for ￡14.1bn of expenditure in 2014. While the process of showrooming is having a major impact, it has been viewed as having a significantly negative effect on multichannel retailers. However, this is not always the case, with 67.0% of all showrooming spend going to a retailer that was visited physically.

The decision to make a purchase happens very quickly for the majority of online shoppers, making it particularly important to display and provide information on products effectively. For their last online purchase, 55.8% of shoppers bought after browsing for under 30 minutes, and 77.9% made the purchase after less than an hour of browsing.

Despite smartphone and tablet penetration being widespread, shoppers are still reluctant to make the final purchase decision outside of the home or workplace. Shoppers who used click and collect for their last purchase were marginally more likely to purchase away from the home or office than the average online shopper.

Reasons?To?Buy
- How much is spent by shoppers that showroom physical stores?

- What is important to click and collect shoppers?

- How many sores shoppers visit online and offline before making their purchase?

1 Overview
2 Key Findings
2.1 Showrooming worth ￡14.1bn
2.2 The grocers are not ranked highly for online satisfaction
2.3 Purchase decisions happening fast
2.4 Young shoppers not convinced by 'social shopping'
2.5 Shoppers still avoid purchasing on-the-go
3 Outlook and Trends
3.1 The showrooming paradigm
3.1.1 Showrooming worth ￡14.1bn
3.1.2 Retailers need to target shoppers at every interaction stage
3.2 Pre-purchase experience is key
3.2.1 Six of the 10 most used retailers outperform the online market average for satisfaction
3.2.2 Pre-purchase experience drives loyalty amongst shoppers
3.2.3 The usability of the website is the key driver of return visits
4 Online Shoppers
4.1 Pre-purchase
4.1.1 Drivers of purchasing
4.1.2 Younger shoppers more susceptible to making impulse purchases
4.1.3 Social media in its infancy
4.2 Post-purchase
4.2.1 Shopping on-the-go remains limited
4.2.2 Customer service and fulfilment must remain a priority
4.2.3 Retailers must encourage internal showrooming
5 Young Shopper Decision Journey
5.1 Pre-purchase
5.2 Post-purchase
5.2.1 Young shoppers more comfortable with purchasing away from home
5.2.2 15-25 year olds internal showroom more than average
6 Click and Collect Decision Journey
6.1 Pre-purchase
6.1.1 Convenience drives click and collect use
6.2 Post-purchase
6.2.1 Click and collect renews reliance on stores
6.2.2 Click and collect cannibalisation from online and offline
7 Mobile Versus Home Shopper
7.1 Pre-purchase
7.1.1 Home devices easier to use, but less enjoyable
7.1.2 Mobile phones and using social media go hand in hand
7.2 Post-purchase
7.2.1 To encourage impulse purchasing, retailers must target mobile phone shoppers
7.2.2 Mobile phones help encourage internal showrooming
8 Methodology
8.1 Retail sales forecasting
8.2 Definitions
8.2.1 Click and collect
8.2.2 Reserve and collect
8.2.3 Pick-up/drop-off
8.3 Abbreviations
9 Appendix
9.1 About Verdict Retail
9.2 Disclaimer