Source: google
Shopping has undergone a revolution, and it is still changing. It started with an Internet bookstore and an online swap introducing new ways to shop. Fast forward two decades, and online shopping continues to grow.
In its report, “US Online Retail Forecast, 2012 to 2017,” Forrester predicts that online shopping will reach $371 billion by 2017, when it will account for 10 per cent of all retail sales. The explosion of digital devices and media, open information, real-time word of mouth, and same-day delivery illustrate the landscape is still being created. Today’s shopper is different. The old paradigm days of browsing aisles, reading box sides, and asking questions of store associates have already been replaced by shoppers beginning their research in the digital medium — not just for heavily researched and considered categories like durable goods, but also for lower-priced, fast-moving consumer goods.
Why? We’re afraid of making the wrong choice: Will I like it? Will my friends like it? Will it actually do what it says? Is it safe? Is it healthy? Is it green? When I went to a baby store recently with the assignment of buying a car seat, I couldn’t get comfortable with the idea of just picking something off the shelf and buying. I had to sit in my car first and research brands and models on my phone. Once in the store, I still couldn’t pull the trigger on the one I liked without first checking reviews online. We’re quickly growing accustomed to mitigating purchase risk by tapping into the vast pools of information assembled online.
The Multi-Device, Multi-Tab Shopper
Under the old paradigm, people would signal their entry into the market by visiting their favorite store at a convenient time and browsing the right aisle to learn about options. For some purchases, it was worth the hassle of walking or driving to another store to compare more options; but in practice, most shoppers would buy from the first store they visited. Product brands and retailers made huge investments to create the right experiences in and around each retail chain to win that shopper.
In the new and still-changing paradigm, entry into the market for a new product purchase is much less linear — and much less centered on a visit to a single retailer. The stimulus to buy something may happen at any time. Most of us have a digital device at hand during most of the day: at work, it may be a PC; on the go, it may be a smartphone; at home on the couch, it may be a tablet.
We always have the ability to run a Google search or visit a retailer website to start learning about options. On the initial search, we may bookmark, pin, or email a couple options to investigate later.
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