42.6% of UK consumers buy online at least once a week and spend on average £71 a month according to a post on Econsultancy. Findings taken from a survey of 2,000 people conducted by eCommera found that online spending has increased by more than a third in the past year.
The study also found that:
- - 60% of participants shop online due to prices
- - Recommendations by friends and family is the most important factor in website choice
- - 46% of people choose an etalier due to their high street presence
- - 35% visited an etailer thanks to their visibility on search engine
- - 21% were prompted to visit a site due to offline advertising
However perhaps more interesting to come out of the study were factors that turned people off of a website which included:
- - Poor images and product descriptions (42%)
- - Poor navigation (32%)
- - Concerns about payment security, finding that items are unavailable (26%)
- - Lack of contact details (18%)
- - Over-long checkout processes (16%)
These are all fundamental factors when it comes to site usability however are still shockingly overlooked by many when it comes to web design and development. If you’re giving your visitors a good user experience then no amount of traffic will ever see your site reach its full potential as the bottom line at the end of it all is what’s important if you are an etalier.