Online retailers are getting ready for what is dubbed “Cyber Monday”, the busiest online shopping day which falls on the first Monday of December each year. This is the peak sales point for all online retailers and the likes of Amazon, John Lewis and ASOS are getting geared up for huge shipments.
Online Christmas shopping this year is set to hit an all time high with 86% of the UK population expected to shop online. This is up 8% from the previous year.
Some 71% of shoppers are expected to do half or more of their shopping online this Christmas which all bodes well for e-commerce sites
Where and when do people do most of their Christmas shopping?
It probably won’t come as much of a surprise that shoppers spend a significant amount of time searching for products while at work. While this may not be good for bosses, e-commerce sites are hit hard during work hours as offices start (unofficially) winding down in the build up to the festive season. Some reports show that at this time of year, shoppers may spend up to 3 hours a week looking for Christmas presents while at work!
Online Shopping – Consumer Confidence
Other emerging Christmas online shopping facts show that online shoppers have constant, if not growing security concerns. Shoppers will hesitate or stop their online shopping if they have any security concerns. In the UK the most confident demographic are 35-44 year olds who do not have concerns and the report by VeriSign also shows that UK shoppers are some of the most confident in Europe. Other UK stats to emerge are that the Scottish are the most concerned at 30%, the Irish least at 17% while the UK national average is 22%.
While I am not negating the issue of online security, I take the report from VeriSign with a modicum of hesitation as the company works in the security industry.
I would however advise shoppers to check the authenticity of any website, look at the authority of the website in terms of PageRank, the number of links that point to that website, whether the website has full company information, clear delivery and terms and conditions and the like. Equally, I would suggest that you investigate that website’s online reputation in terms of searching for reviews and customer feedback.
From a website owner perspective, building consumer confidence would look to address all of the above. Search engine optimisation (SEO), online reputation management, clear, secure and transparent transaction funnels must be put in place to both increase your online presence and build consumer confidence.
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