Home » Statistics » 44 Demographics of Online Shoppers

44 Demographics of Online Shoppers

Online shopping continues to grow every year thanks to the structure of the purchasing environment. Digital copies allow for instant movie access. Free shipping keeps costs competitive with traditional retailers. The ability to shop from home, on one’s own time, has plenty of value in itself because it saves fuel costs and the time investment required to go shopping at a retailer.

Online Shopping Sales Are Expected to Be $370 billion by 2017.

Online Shopper Facts

What is driving the increase in online shopping in virtually every demographic? The ability to access the internet to shop at an online store through mobile devices. With apps that assist with shopping, a 5 minute break at work can become a 5 minute shopping opportunity to find an incredible deal.

  • 36% of people who shop online say that they only buy the things that they feel are necessary and they are willing to pay full price for them.
  • Online retail sales show an 11% growth in Q1 2014 when compared with the previous year.
  • The increase of online orders that retailers experienced in Q1 2014 over the year before: 13%.
  • Consumers who are aged 25-34 are leading the way in using smartphones to take care of their online shopping needs.
  • Online revenues from smartphone purchases has increased by over 35% in the past year.
  • 2 out of 3 people who fit into the senior age demographics will purchasing at least one item online in the next year, which accounts for over 40 million customers.

Why are people being drawn into the online shopping experience? It’s so easy. Some retailers even allow for subscription orders that automatically renew so that you never have to travel to the store again. If you are going to pick up diapers every other week, for example, you can just set up a reoccurring order that delivers diapers to your front door every two weeks. The structure of online ordering isn’t going to fully eliminate that emergency run to the store when you run out of cat food or you need an onion for dinner, but it does have the potential to meet many needs a household has from the convenience of the home computer.

Who Is Spending Money Online?

  • Generation X leads the way in online annual spending, with each household or individual averaging $561 in sales every year.
  • How much more does Genearation X spend more than any other generation demographic? 15%.
  • Generation Y also spends more online than the average person or household during the year at $489 in annual sales.
  • In total, the average adult who makes online purchases will spend $449 per year as they shop on the internet.
  • The percentage of orders that result in a “satisfactory” or above rating: 83%.
  • The #1 reason why online shoppers don’t like the internet for being able to meet their needs is in the flexibility of delivery dates.

It isn’t just small items like DVDs or books that are being purchased online today. People with specific dietary needs can order gluten-free or allergen-free foods through Amazon’s pantry website. Households are routinely purchasing new mattresses, new furniture, and electronics thanks to online shopping. What is drawing the younger generations especially to spend so much online is that they can have their average needs met and usually for a cheaper price than if they went to the store to purchase something. There’s always a chance that a purchase won’t work out, but easy return policies and guaranteed refunds help to temper that risk by quite a lot. Even without the secure return policies, many would still shop online because the ability to save sometimes hundreds of dollars outweighs the risk of purchasing a defective or worthless item.

How Much Does Online Shopping Affect The Retail Experience?

  • The percentage of Millennials that research products or services that they’re thinking of buying before visiting a traditional retailer or service provider to purchase that item: 72%.
  • Out of every $1 that is spent on retail goods, $0.36 of it has been influenced digitally in some fashion.
  • About half of all Millennials will browse through items online at a number of stores, even if they don’t intend to purchase anything at that time.
  • Flexibility in purchasing has a direct correlation to online shopping. 62% of online shoppers want the option to return an item in-store locally.
  • The percentage of shoppers that use their mobile devices either before a shopping trip or during one to check prices or verify a product’s quality: 84%.
  • 22% of online shoppers admit that they spend more when shopping online than they would normally spend if they were shopping at a traditional retailer.
  • 3 out of 4 people say that digital information about products or stores influences the decisions that they make while at a traditional retailer.
  • An additional 75% of online shoppers say that the interactions they have with retailers on social networking sites and other channels influences their choices and creates higher levels of loyalty.

Even when a purchase doesn’t happen online, that doesn’t mean a retailer has lost the customer. It may just mean that the retailer has provided enough information to inspire someone to come to the store to purchase the item in person. With hundreds of billions of dollars at stake and trillions in person, appealing to all of the online shopping demographics, including the senior age demographic, is incredibly important. It boils down to the ability to create a relationship through value and interaction. If a retailer can create a good relationship, then they’ll create repeat business. If they are unable to engage someone, then the best online store in the world will never reach its maximum potential.

Who Is The Average Online Shopper Today?

  • The gender demographics are evenly split when it comes to online shopping, with men and women both making up 50% of all shoppers.
  • Women only made up 44% of online shoppers just 2 years ago.
  • 37% of women have made at least once purchase on their smartphone within the last 12 months.
  • The percentage of men who have made at least one purchase online with a smartphone in the past year: 44%.
  • For women who have daily access to the internet, 62% of them pay attention to online discount news and promotional items that are sent too em.
  • More men [31%] trust online ads than women [26%].
  • 4 out of every 10 women will visit a retailer’s website specifically to find coupons or discounts that are being offered at the store.

Although men shop a little differently than women, the fact remains that the online demographics are virtually equal across the board. The same is true when online shopping is broken down by age. The only age demographic is 18 or under [6%] that doesn’t have a fairly equal percentage of the online shopping population when compared to the other ages. What does this mean for the average online retailer? It shows that anyone can become a customer if the right conditions are met. That’s why it is so important to know who the target demographic for a product happens to be. Match up the product with the needed value and an ecommerce solution can become a very profitable venture with a reasonably minimal amount of overall effort.

It’s Not Just The Product Price

  • Two-thirds of women will inspect an item at a store before purchasing it online, spending an average amount of almost $150 per purchase in doing so.
  • The percentage of women who are willing to pay more online in order to receive an authentic designer brand: 43%.
  • 35% of women will access a retailer website to read the customer reviews of a product before completing any purchase.
  • Women [66%] are more likely than men [57%] to rate a purchase that they’ve made with a 5 star rating.
  • Men will spend almost twice as much as women if they are able to inspect a product at a store before purchasing it online.
  • One-third of women will make a recommendation of a product or service to their social network if the end result is able to exceed their expectations.

Remember the days in the past when a deal could be made on a handshake? There was a level of trust in that handshake. A person’s word was their bond. In the modern world of online shopping, most demographics are using the internet reviews of a product in a similar fashion. More than 70% of people will access an online review, either on a retailer’s website or on a third party site, to see how a product or service has treated someone over time. This information will be trusted and it will influence that shopping decisions that are being made. One negative review is often all it takes for someone to change their mind about a purchase. That’s why just focusing on the product price alone for an online business is such a critical mistake.

Which Online Shopper Are You?

  • Across all demographics, online shoppers fit into 5 distinctive personalities with their ecommerce present.
  • 1 in 5 people are passive users, who prefer to shop for things in person and only use the internet sparingly for purchases.
  • The percentage of people who are proactive protectors of their private information and purchase things based on the transparency of privacy policies: 17%.
  • 21% of people rely heavily on the internet to researcher products and make shopping decisions based on the results that they’ve found.
  • Another 21% of people will openly share virtually every aspect of their life online, putting them at risk for information theft, but it also gives them a chance to get great deals.
  • The final group, those who interact with others regularly, may not be the most technically savvy, but they are the most dedicated and loyal demographic of online shoppers there is.

The secret to finding the best online shoppers is to find out the specific niche demographics where someone fits. Having a Millennial as a shopper isn’t good enough. If that Millennial is a passive user, then there’s a good chance that a purchase isn’t going to be made. By looking at these 5 distinct personality groups, which everyone fits into no matter where in the world they happen to live, online retailers can get the right targets selected, identify what their needs and problems happen to be, and then provide information that helps to satisfy the value requirements that the population base happens to have.

There Is Still A Long Way To Go For Online Retailers

  • 61% of people who say that they regularly shop online state that they spend more at a traditional retailer than they do at an ecommerce site.
  • Impulse purchases are more likely at a traditional store [74%] than at an online store [65%].
  • The average online shopper has a 1 in 2 chance of purchasing something on impulse while shopping.
  • Americans are the most likely to spend at least as much online as they do at a store, more than 20% more likely to do so than any other country population demographic.
  • For Millennials, spending more than 1 hour per day on a shopping website is common, but sales don’t always occur despite these long periods of time.

Online stores aren’t just about finding a good price on a product. It’s also about the start of the research process. By taking a look at an item’s product description and the reviews that an item has generated, online shoppers can begin to determine the true amount of perceived value that they see in that item. When they see something that they really like, then there’s a 50/50 shot that the online shopper will purchase it. That’s still not as good as being visually tempted by something during the checkout process in a store, however, and it may never be. That might ultimately hold back online sales in some ways. Online shoppers will stick around for a great deal if one is provided and that’s something that these demographic statistics prove.

Online Consumer Behavior Trends

About The Author
Although millions of people visit Brandon's blog each month, his path to success was not easy. Go here to read his incredible story, "From Disabled and $500k in Debt to a Pro Blogger with 5 Million Monthly Visitors." If you want to send Brandon a quick message, then visit his contact page here.