Why Consumers Love eCommerce (Not Why You Think)

From Black Friday to Cyber Monday to Singles Day, to say that online shopping is booming around the globe would be a far, far understatement.

US shoppers may have earned a notorious reputation across the globe with their holiday shopping, but experts are predicting that this year’s numbers won’t match even half of what Chinese shoppers spent this Singles Day. Reports say the event, which is celebrated every November 11 and has turned into the planet’s largest online shopping day, raked in $9.3 billion this year.

But new research from marketing agency Razorfish says there’s more to these ballooning numbers than great online deals. The company’s latest report, Digital Dopamine, suggests that consumers actually get more gratification from waiting for online purchase to arrive at their doorstep than when those products are immediately obtained through in-store purchases.

To break down how Razorfish reached this conclusion, analysts explored the buying habits and related emotions of 1,680 shoppers in the US, UK, China and Brazil. Some self-reported findings were not so surprising: for example, 62 percent of participants from the US and Brazil said they felt excitement when they got a text, while more than 75 percent of all participants admitted they felt dependent on technology. That’s hardly news to anyone guilty of a small panic then they lose their smartphone.

But it’s this emotional connection to technology, the report says, that has given rise to e-commerce – and could mean big, big business for marketers and retailers in 2015.

Razorfish found 66 percent of US participants, 72 percent of UK participants. 73 percent of Brazil participants and 82 percent of China participants all said they feel more excited about having online purchases arrive in the mail then when they purchase an item in a store.

Those findings might explain why e-commerce behemoth Alibaba processed more than 40 percent of purchases via mobile devices this Singles Day.

Experts say the implications of the study could be huge. Marketers will need to learn how to tap into this enjoyable anticipation felt by consumers, especially as online shoppers demand more from their digital shopping experience. Razorfish data show at least half of UK and US participants want a better experience from online shopping sites; that number goes much higher for Brazil and China participants, at 79 and 87 percent, respectively.

“Current e-commerce experiences fall short of expectations,” Digital Dopamine says. “Even with the massive accomplishments made in the evolution of commerce, consumers are still not impressed. Current e-commerce experiences, return policies and shopping options are falling flat in cultivating satisfied customers.”​