Who's Shopping Online - 9 Interesting Facts

Online shopping has moved from geeky to mainstream in just 10 years. Almost 50 percent of Americans shop online and 88 percent of that number have bought something online in the last six months. As a result, profits for online merchants now average more than $34 billion a year, up 500 percent from 1999.

While convenience is a factor, coupons make it easier to save money when shopping online merchants.

According to recent research, the average online shopper is female, aged 42, spends an average of $445 online per year and has a household income of $65,000. While that's not very surprising, but it's always interesting to discover perception truly is reality.

Take a look at the following nine statistics and see if you fit into the international online-shopper demographic.

1. Why Online
Ninety-four percent of Americans use computers for personal purposes. Nearly two-thirds have "a high level of dependency."

2. When We Shop
The highest percentage of both men (77 percent) and women (68 percent) shop online during the morning before lunch. Top level professional males and females prefer to shop at night. Stay-at-home moms tend to shop in the mid-afternoon, perhaps during nap time?

3. Who Shops Auctions
More than 50 percent of online auction participants are men aged 30 to 49. The majority are suburban white males with a college degree who earn $60,000 to $100,000 per year.

4. How We Find What We Want
One third of online shoppers find what they're looking for via a search engine and about one fourth find websites by word of mouth. Other influences include personal recommendations and special offers.

5. Why We Return
Online shoppers who have a good experience will return to that website 60 percent of the time to make another purchase. However, the most important factors are ease of use and the presence of user-friendly features

6. What We Buy
Books and clothing/accessories make up the large majority of online purchases, followed by videos/DVDs/games, travel reservations (air, hotel, auto), electronic equipment, music and computer hardware.

7. How We Pay
Nearly one dollar in five dollars spent online is paid using such alternative payment methods as gift cards, PayPal or eBillMe, an online banking service.

8. Who Pays Attention to Online Ads
Twenty-nine percent of males and 30 percent of females said their choices are "frequently" influenced by online ads while 43 percent say decisions are "sometimes" influenced.

9. Who Shops Online

• 57 percent are business professional
• 69 percent live in single-family homes
• 62 percent own their home
• 41 percent are married
• 49 percent use a mobile phone to order online
• 11 percent make business purchases

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