Women Enjoy Shared Online Shopping Experience
At the risk of sounding stereotypical, it should come as no surprise that women enjoy shopping together. That behavior has extended itself to online channels as well, according to a new study jointly sponsored by iVillage and SheSpeaks.
The study highlights that "interaction between women through online community Web sites, forums and message boards have a 'dramatic' influence on driving product preference, loyalty, and purchase," cites Mediapost.
KEY FINDINGS
Websites play a significant role - 81% of women have visited a superstore website in the past month, 70% visited a food/beverage brand website and 69% visited a health/beauty brand website.
Email remains a popular channel - Women actively read email newsletters they receive from companies (61% read emails from food/ beverage brands, 55% from health and beauty brands and 53% from superstores).
Coupons and advice from other consumers are top influencers of purchase decisions - Online coupons (68%), store coupons (66%), consumer reviews on shopping sites (61%) and recommendations from friends (59%) are the top influencers. Rates of influence are virtually identical for coupons and for consumer opinions from online and offline sources. Sixty percent also say that online coupons are more influential on their purchases now than one year ago and 51% say consumer reviews on websites are more influential.
The source of coupon selection varies by age; newspaper coupons remain the most popular - 47% of respondents say that newspaper coupons are most influential, and online coupons and at home mailers are most influential to 19% of respondents. Younger women (under 30) are less influenced by newspaper coupons (38%) and more influenced by both at-home mailers (30%) and online coupons (21%).
If you dig further into the study (page 15 on Scribd), you will find that age plays an important role in other ways as well. Younger women tend to be more influenced by consumer reviews on shopping sites, blog recommendations, Facebook/Twitter posts from friends and coupons on mobile devices. Older women are relatively more influenced by store circulars, emails from companies/brands and content on brand/company websites.
Consumer reviews have the greatest impact on purchase decisions - Reading consumer reviews about products on message boards makes women more likely to look for a product in the store (77%), more favorable about the product while shopping (74%), more likely to choose the brand/product over others (70%) and more likely to purchase the product in the store (67%).
Facebook and Twitter are less influential when it comes to buying decisions - 50% of women are fans or followers or grocery, health/beauty or household products brands and the stores that carry them, however Facebook and Twitter fall to the bottom of the list of top purchase influencers, with 19% saying that posts from friends and 11% saying that posts from brands are top influencers.
Mobile devices have yet to factor in - Only 10% of women have downloaded any shopping-related applications to their mobile devices, and 62% are not even interested in doing so. Those who have used mobile applications find them very useful, although they have run into a few technical glitches; those who have not are waiting for higher adoption before jumping on the bandwagon.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR ECOMMERCE MERCHANTS
To take advantage of these trends, online retailers need to utilize every benefit the Internet has to offer, including consumer rating and reviews, email newsletters, online coupons, and social networks.
"Women want advice from other shoppers, but they also want to share their experiences and look for validation before making a purchase," said Jodi Kahn, executive vice-president at iVillage, in response to the study.
Another significant finding was that women spend between 6 and 30 minutes preparing for a shopping trip, and that they will "use this time researching sources which will generate the best value from their trip." This suggests that, in addition to the other outlets, emphasis should be placed on optimizing ecommerce sites for search engines.
THE ROLE OF FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
Even though social networks such as Facebook and Twitter did not fare as well in terms of being primary influencers of buying behavior, that does not mean they should not be used.
The study reported that a majority of respondents - some 81% - had visited Facebook in the past month. Not only that, women use these sites to share thoughts and opinions about brands and products. Therefore, having a Fan Page and Twitter account is a must, as is making use of applications such as Facebook Connect and the new "Like" button on your website.
Pat Kitano, Internet marketing consultant and CEO of Domus Consulting Group, said recently that "Facebook is primed to evolve into a massive Sunday advertising circular for local businesses." (He also suggested that Twitter could become the new Valpak.) Apps such as those provided by Wildfire and FanAppz make it easy to incorporate online coupons and similar promotional activities.
CONCLUSION
Reading this report, it should be easy to discern that a combination of online channels used in a coordinated, cross-promotional manner is what's called for. Women "become much more loyal to a brand if you give them the tools to make the correct buying decision," stated Ms. Kahn. Merchants who heed this advice will be the ones best positioned to capture such loyalty in the long-term.
What tools are you providing your customers that will enable them to share advice with one another? What other tools would you add to this list?
3 Comments
Mallory says:
This is a very interesting view on how women use social media to enhance their shopping. As a typical target demographic I would have to say that all of these points ring true to me!
"Women spend between 6 and 30 minutes preparing for a shopping trip, and that they will "use this time researching sources which will generate the best value from their trip." This suggests that, in addition to the other outlets, emphasis should be placed on optimizing ecommerce sites for search engines." - absolutely! As an avid shopper I am constantly connecting with my favorite brands over facebook and twitter. I utilize coupon codes on a weekly basis, and always try to rate and review the items I buy, as well as share them on my social networks. I believe that for me and most of my peers being able to share info/purchases via social channels makes us WAY more prone to stay loyal to a company or brand in the long run.
Also, "younger women (under 30) are less influenced by newspaper coupons (38%) and more influenced by both at-home mailers (30%) and online coupons (21%)," once again, so true. Companies like Victorias Secret, Express and even Bath and Body are the queens of sending coupons and discount cards to me in the mail. Not only do I regularly use these coupons, but I have also shared them with friends, gotten a credit card from each of these companies, and regularly interact with them on twitter and facebook.
Overall, this was a very interesting article and one that retailers should definitely take into account!
Paul Chaney says:
Thanks for the great comment Mallory. Regarding coupons, I can say my wife never misses the opportunity, ahem, to save the 20% at Bed, Bath and Beyond that she receives in the mail each week.
kbthechamp says:
I completely agree.... one other important factor for me is engagement and honesty. I do lots of shopping online and for a woman we need questions answered eg. how do the sizes run etc. I always review a new company before I use it. The other day I purchased an ed hardy handbag from thasource21.com and I didn't get any automated emails, found good reviews, and then decided to purchase. The item was exactly how they said it was and I left feeling engaged and feeling great about my purchase. Also I make sure to review a company after to either warn other women or to tell them that this company is great. Nothing beats a final decision like a personal review.
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