August 2021
Featured in this insight: Consumer goods & FMCG , Financial services, IT & telecommunications, Retail
Survey reveals majority of consumers plan to continue shopping online: A survey has found that despite many retailers reopening their physical stores around the globe after periods of closure due to Covid-19, the majority of consumers (85.9%) said they plan to continue shopping online the same (59.3%), or even more (26.6%). Just 14.1% said they will shop less online.
The survey by Qubit, a company dealing with AI-powered personalisation, polled 1,500 shoppers in the UK and the US to look at the changing behaviours of consumers as a result of the pandemic.
The online retail industry grew massively in 2020 according to the report, seeing a 25.7% surge globally as high streets and retail outlets were forced to close their physical stores. The research by Qubit found that 54.5% of respondents plan to continue shopping online as much as they did during the peak holiday period last year, while 27.7% said they plan to shop more than they did last year (32.4% in the US).
When asked where they are planning to continue shopping online, fashion came top with 64.1% saying they will be continuing as they did during the pandemic peak period, followed by consumer electronics (63%), groceries (49.3%), home & garden (49.3%) and beauty (47%).
The research also found that 70.7% of shoppers now shop online more frequently than they did pre-pandemic.
Brand loyalty
Looking at loyalty, eight out of ten shoppers said they had remained loyal to their top two to three brands, or their brand loyalty had increased during the pandemic, however nearly a third (31.4%) said they now buy a range of different brands than they did before Covid-19.
Just over half the respondents polled (54.9%) reported that they needed 'more convincing' when it comes to buying a product online, compared to when they are in-store.
'Overwhelming choice'
The survey also revealed that 87.6% of shoppers feel they are faced with an overwhelming choice of products when shopping online, some, always or most of the time, which says Qubit poses a challenge to customer experience.
View more of our sector specific insights: Consumer goods & FMCG, Financial services, IT & telecommunications, Retail
