Survey reveals why some shoppers give up on e-commerce

Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - 11:57 by Simon Crisp

The latest study from Connexity has looked at the state of online shopping across the globe, focusing on why some consumers choose to abandon an attempt to make a purchase on an e-commerce site.

With over 60,000 participating in this survey, the results can be seen as painting a very accurate picture of the problems that some people face when they decide to carry out safe shopping online.

A fifth of respondents said that they had stopped using a shopping site as a result of being unable to find the product or service they were initially seeking.

Seventeen per cent said that they were put off using a particular site after they found that there was not enough stock of a particular item to fulfil their order. This is exacerbated when it comes to fashion retailers, because while some products may be in stock, the availability of specific sizes and colours can spoil the experience for consumers.

Interestingly, the report found that price is not as big of an influencing factor as some might assume, since only nine per cent of those questioned said that they had abandoned an e-commerce cart because they felt that the amount being charged for an item was excessive.

Safe shopping online is often promoted as an affordable alternative to visiting bricks and mortar stores, but the reality is that many people decide to make an e-commerce purchase because it is more convenient than visiting the high street.

However, if sites are not well stocked and easy to use, plenty of consumers will simply stop their search before they have even made a purchase, or else visit a rival retailer’s e-commerce outlet. And with the highly developed UK market, finding products elsewhere is an uncomplicated process.