How we shop online – 19,000 global online shoppers analysed

An extensive new study, covering 19,000 consumers and 153 senior decision makers from global retailers has been released today by payment processor WorldPay. The Global Online Shopper Report sets out to identify the online shopping habits of consumers in the U.K., U.S., China, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Argentina and India.

Highlights:

– 22% of consumers’ annual expenses go towards buying goods and services online

– Online shopping takes up five hours a month

– 95% of ecommerce purchases are conducted within the home; 54% of global consumers shop in the living room and 43% the bedroom. 5% shop in the garden and 3% in the bathroom

– For m-commerce, 55% of time is spent using a laptop; 30% using a mobile device

– 74% of global online spending takes place between midday to midnight, with most (44%) done during the evening. Cumulatively, this helps to create an international “spending peak” of 8.40 pm – the time at which most customers are shopping online at a purely global level

– For “heavy spenders,” (classified as those who spend 30% of disposable income online), 55% have shopped online with a mobile phone and 67% with a tablet in the past three months

– China has the largest percentage of consumers using smartphones to shop, (nearly 46%) followed by India at 40%

– Only 9% of U.S. shoppers use instant messaging while shopping compared to the global average of 18%

– 69% of online shoppers used credit cards; PayPal was used by 40 percent; debit cards by 37 percent. (The total is higher than 100 percent since shoppers can use multiple payment methods while shopping online)

WorldPay’s study showed Amazon, the world’s largest Internet retailer, was the most popular website for buying online. 43% percent of consumers worldwide had shopped at Amazon in the past three months, but in the U.S. that number jumped to 83%. EBay came in at 33% and 45% respectively.

The most popular shopping destinations globally were:

– Department stores: 31%

– Clothes retailers: 30%

– Consumer electronics: 25%

The report looked at specific issues, such as why online shoppers leave a site without paying (the top reason – “Presented with unexpected costs” – 56%)

Full survey can be downloaded here.