Cautious Shoppers Are An Online Retailer's Favourite

Monday, April 26, 2010 - 12:48 by Simon Crisp

Security technology firm McAfee has some news for online retailers: they should remember that patience is a virtue and is in fact the hallmark of a consumer likely to make a purchase when it comes to safe shopping online.

McAfee has recently published a new white paper, entitled 'Digital Window Shopping: The Long Journey To Buy', which takes a detailed look at various nuances of the journey from heading to an online retail website to actually making that purchase. And one of the major findings in this white paper is that although some consumers may wait before making a purchase whilst safe shopping online, those same consumers usually buy in the end.

In detailed terms, the research found that the average delay between a consumer first entering a website and that same consumer buying a product from the site is 33 hours and 54 minutes. Over half of consumers wait between 12 hours and two days before finally getting round to making that purchase, whilst 33% really take their time and wait over two days between first registering interest and actually buying an item. A mere 12% of consumers make the purchase within 12 hours of first going on to the site.

McAfee found that the average conversion rate is just under 11%, although shoppers who wait more than five days before making the purchase have a conversion rate a little above the average, at 13%. Meanwhile, perhaps unsurprisingly, the conversion rate was found to be lowest amongst those online consumers who do not notably delay a purchase after reaching a site.

Reasons for a delay in making a purchase are believed to include the consumer shopping around on other sides to compare prices; although in some cases the consumer may simply be new to the shopping process.