Pricey, highly considered purchases such as home appliances represent some of the least-penetrated online sales categories, but that’s poised to change in the future, according to a new report from Forrester Research Inc. As the longest-tenured web shoppers grow more comfortable online, they’re moving into spending on a broader range of categories, according to “How Shoppers Evolve Online,” by Forrester principal analyst Sucharita Mulpuru.
The report notes that the buying behavior of shoppers who’ve been purchasing online for seven years or longer has evolved over that time. While they initially confined purchases to media and travel—and these categories remain entry points to the channel for new web shoppers—more experienced web shoppers start buying in additional categories such as toys, jewelry and sporting goods after a few years.
Forrester notes that web shoppers with the longest online tenure are becoming more comfortable with buying in even the retail categories least-penetrated online but largest offline—food and auto—as companies such as FreshDirect.com and CarsDirect.com refine their delivery models. “This gradually provides an opportunity for the last unpenetrated frontier of online retail,” Mulpuru says.
According to the report, the longest-tenured online shoppers use the web to do more research online than other shoppers, expand the number of categories they’ll buy online over time, and spend significantly more online. To line up the opportunity in less-penetrated online sales categories with the habits of experienced web shoppers having the greatest potential to be customers, Forrester advisers e-retailers to stay focused on the customer experience as an imperative, and measure customer behavior across channels whenever possible to synergize operations and gain customer data.
Forrester also encourages durable goods and consumer packaged goods manufacturers to create compelling sites with clear paths to purchase on their own site or at retailer partner sites. Finally, Forrester advises online retailers to prepare for mobile commerce, noting that the growth curve in mobile will likely follow that of online shopping.
“This implies that media and travel will likely experience the most traction online initially but should soon be followed by other, more tactile categories such as home products, jewelry and appliances,” Mulpuru says.
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