According to research, 81% of shoppers rate convenience as a
prime consideration when making a purchase on-line with only 33%
saying price savings were more important. 59% of the shoppers
surveyed demonstrated a loyalty to those sites making it easy for
them to make purchases and said that they tend to return to a
handful of sites that they find familiar and easy to use.
The analyst responsible for the report published by internet
research group Gartner, David Schehr, cautioned that the results do
not mean that price is not still a fundamental consideration in the
consumer’s mind but that “on-line merchants should focus their
energy on getting the customer in and out of the site as quickly as
possible.” This is reinforced by the figures showing that just 2%
of consumers said price alone is an important consideration, 49%
saying convenience alone was important and 30% said both factors
together were equally important considerations.
Businesses can push the convenience of their site, Schehr said,
by sending marketing messages “that focus on on-line buyers
feelings of being time constrained,” and by using messages and
design elements that tie price to convenience benefits.
