Shipping costs decisive
What could make e-consumers use online stores more frequently? What problems do they encounter when shopping on the net? These questions fund their answers in the latest report prepared by Gemius for e-Commerce Polska.
If delivery costs were lower, the products cheaper, and e-shops more eager to organise price reductions, online sales would go up. The research suggests that the amount an e-customer must pay for delivery as well as the prices of products and occasional sales do influence the frequency of online shopping. These were the factors declared by customers who use e-stores (69, 62 and 61 per cent, respectively).
"This proves that consumers’ knowledge and awareness of the mechanisms behind internet selling is increasing. And this poses another challenge to virtual vendors - comments Patrycja Sass-Staniszewska".
"The customer is aware of the fact that the final cost of their purchase is made up not only of the product price but also the shipping. In many instances, the total amount to be paid is not as attractive as it appeared in the beginning, and they decide to buy offline" comments Patrycja Sass-Staniszewska, board member at the Chamber of Electronic Economy.
"This proves that consumers’ knowledge and awareness of the mechanisms behind internet selling is increasing. And this poses another challenge to virtual vendors" Sass-Staniszewska adds.
Too much
In turn, high costs of delivery and long waiting time for the shipment to arrive, as well as troublesome search for the desired products are the problems e-customers encounter most often. These were mentioned by 48, 37 and 24 per cent of internet users who use websites offering online sale.
"The crucial role in e-business is played by shipping services, which is connected with the two problems most often indicted by internet shoppers" says Marek Cynowski, e-commerce specialist at Poczta Polska.
"From the vantage point of the vendors, the pivotal issues are: conscious choice of the partner entrusted with delivery of packages and the portfolio of the services offered, comprising both cost-and time-effective delivery" Cynowski adds.
The research shows that one-fourth of e-consumers had never experienced any obstacles when shopping online (24 per cent).
The aim of the research was to learn about the attitudes, habits and motivation related to online shopping. The project was carried out with the use of the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) questionnaires on a group of 1500 internet users over 15 years of age. The data was collected between 26 February and 7 March 2014.
The report is available at www.ecommerce.gemius.pl and www.ecommercepolska.pl.
