Online shoppers prefer to purchase their products or services in a marketplace over an online store and do so through mobile devices
The Cetelem Observatory is a project that produces consumption and distribution reports related to electronic commerce. In this article, we present a summary of the 2017 eCommerce report with the title “ The age of the marketplace ”. This content is not promoted and we share it under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). We have prepared it because we find the work carried out by them regarding the world of e-commerce and trends and consumption patterns very interesting.
Key data from the Cetelem Ecommerce Report 2017
The sectors of tourism, leisure, mobile devices, and electronics in general, grew in buyers by above 15 points. Buyers continue to buy entertainment on the Internet (tickets to shows, books, restaurants, music, etc.) growing by 22 points. We buy more and more online. It is not something new but it is relevant since the numbers of online buyers continue to grow. In 2017, 10% of consumers in the study said they had made several purchases online, 8% more than in 2016.]
The preferred online shopping channel in the marketplace. It is ahead of the online store itself and the manufacturer in practically all sectors. In addition, we have spent much more and also financed larger amounts. An example that the report shows is that in the last 12 months, 38% more has been spent, going from €1,413 in 2016 to €1,954 in 2017. The most financed sectors in e-commerce have been electronics, followed by tourism and fashion.
Shipping costs continue to be a nuisance for shoppers despite more shopping from home than in physical stores. It can be confirmed today that electronic commerce is already mobile. In 2017, 56% of buyers have done so through a smartphone or tablet in the last twelve months. The leisure, fashion, and tourism sectors have been among the most purchased. Interestingly, 90% of those surveyed in this study stated that in the future online commerce will be Mobile Commerce because it is faster, simpler, without schedules, and from anywhere.
According to the Cetelem Observatory, purchases through social networks have not taken off and are also receding because users do not consider it to be a place to buy, have not found an attractive product or service, or even do not give them confidence. The improvement of logistics and shipments in e-commerce has made us more impatient. Now we expect a normal shipment to arrive in 4-5 days, while in 2016 we expected to arrive in 5.82 days.
Consumer trends in online shopping
The «Marketplace» as we said, is the new favorite shopping channel. Appliances and technology, mobile devices, and products related to bicycles, cars, and motorcycles are purchased through this type of website. The reasons why the marketplace is preferred to the online or physical store are the price, the variety of products, and the offers and opportunities that the Internet user can find.
A curious fact is that according to this report, buying and selling between individuals through the internet has decreased by 11% compared to 2016. As we mentioned in the previous point, social networks continue to be a social medium and not online shopping because according to those surveyed believe that it is not a place to buy, despite the fact that the few who have bought through social networks have had a positive experience.
M-Commerce is booming, it’s a reality. 56 % of Spanish Internet users who were surveyed stated that they had bought online through their mobile device, which means that there was an increase of 6 percentage points compared to 2016. 21 if compared to 2015. Users who are more likely to make this type of mobile purchase are those between the ages of 25 and 34.
The preferred payment methods through mobile devices were Paypal in the lead, debit cards in second place with 50%, and credit cards in third place. 54% of users state that they have used a collection point and 14% have used it to return some of their purchases.
In conclusion of this study, 94% of those surveyed intend to make purchases online in the next 12 months. The products with the intention of being purchased are electrical appliances or technology, mobile phones, and accessories, fashion and footwear and accessories, among others, and the reasons on which more online purchases depend will be based on low prices, safer transactions, or the ease in the purchase process among others.
