The burgeoning ranks of Asian online shoppers wants faster deliveries, with multiple delivery destination options – and they don’t want to pay for it.
Online shoppers around the world want the ability to search and shop on multiple channels and devices, expect to see alternate delivery and payment options, and when it comes to shipping and returns, “free” is a driving factor to complete the sale, according to the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Global Study released by UPS which tracks emerging trends from eCommerce markets in Asia, Brazil, Europe, Mexico and the US.
The trend is most evident in Asia, where 45 per cent of respondents said they would prefer to have their online order delivered to locations other than their home. When not at home to sign for a package, 33 per cent said they want their items shipped to a local retail location authorised to hold the package for pickup at their convenience.
According to the study, Asian shoppers are avid technology users and the least patient with 27 per cent expecting same-day delivery and 48 per cent expecting next-day shipping to be offered by retailers, the highest of any market.
Respondents from Asia came from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
The key message in the report – from all geographical regions – was flexibility.
According to the study, conducted by comScore, Brazilian consumers are the most advanced and social in their online shopping habits. More than half (56 per cent) of their purchases are made online, the highest of any market, and 64 per cent said they are influenced by reviews or posts on social media to help decide which products to purchase. However, they experience barriers to shopping on a mobile device: 39 per cent said they can’t get a clear or large product image, 31 per cent said they cannot easily view product information, and 34 per cent said it is hard to compare products.
Over one third (38 per cent) of online shoppers in Brazil are willing to wait 11 days or more for their international orders in order to qualify for free shipping.
European online shoppers are gradually embracing emerging technologies. They make the fewest purchases on a smartphone (19 per cent) compared to the other four markets and less than half (40 per cent) use retailer mobile apps. They make more in-store purchases (54 per cent) than they do online, and while shopping in a store, 61 per cent prefer to check out with an associate. In response to delivery questions, 52 per cent said they prefer seeing the expected arrival date rather than the number of days it will take for the item to arrive.
American online shoppers are open to new trends on social media and in-store technologies, making more purchases on tablets than any other market. Free shipping continues to drive purchasing decisions as 58 per cent of online shoppers reported adding items to their shopping cart in order to qualify for the incentive. Further, 83 per cent are willing to wait an additional two days for delivery if shipping is free, and 68 per cent said free returns shipping is needed to complete a sale. Only 44 per cent of online shoppers said they were satisfied with the flexibility of changing delivery days or rerouting packages.
“Consumers demand more from their package delivery experience, and today’s online shopper expects us to respond by creating solutions that are convenient for them,” said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS executive VP and chief commercial officer.
“Globally, we now have more than 13 million UPS My Choice members and over 15,000 UPS Access Point locations and we continue to expand both services to meet their needs.”
This animated map offers more information about each market.
