Retail in Asia

In Trends

Taking Stock: Digital consumers mix online and offline to make smarter purchases

People increasingly are mixing online and offline to make smarter purchases. Though physical touch is still important, the factors in favor of online commerce outweigh those against it.

These are two of the most important findings of a major study undertaken by Havas Worldwide research partner Market Probe International to explore emerging paths to purchase around the world. A total of 10,219 adults in 31 countries were surveyed, representing a combined population of more than five billion.

According to the report, the concept of remote retail or buying goods from a far-off retailer, a distant predecessor of today’s digital or online commerce, is not exactly new. For hundreds of years, people have bought goods or ordered goods through catalogs.

"Back then, retailer catalogs were ink on paper; now they are increasingly pixels on screens," the report said.

Today, there are more products traded online, and consequently more people shopping online. According to the report, among those who made online purchases a year prior to the survey, 43 percent purchased fewer than 10 items and 46 percent purchased 10 or more. The more sophisticated e-shoppers or the so-called prosumers bought more than at least 25 items (27 percent) and those who made had made 50 or more online purchases were 11 percent of the sample.

What are in those shopping carts? Survey respondents have bought clothing, shoes, and/or accessories online (49 percent), books (44 percent) or movies, music, and/or video games (33 percent). And around half of women (51 percent) buy beauty and cosmetics products online.

"This doesn’t necessarily mean that consumers are buying these products only online rather than in stores, nor that they are buying these products sight unseen. In many cases, people are going online to buy things that they have already seen in stores. That’s great news for brands and retailers that design their online resources to integrate with their brick-and-mortar stores in a seamless whole," the report explained.

The future indeed looks rosy for digital commerce. The report predicts that in the not-so distant future, e-shoppable storefront displays would allow passersby to order goods for home delivery. The coming of personalized curators to help consumers make smarter choices and the increasing importance of maps for mobile commerce were also highlighted.

To download the full report, click on the PDF attachment.

Taking Stock is Retail in Asia’s fortnightly column dedicated to showcasing opinions from experts in the retail industry.