Meet the 3 Personas Who Prefer Tailored Online Shopping Experiences

If we’ve learned anything from the events of the past two years it’s that change is happening faster than ever and it’s coming to eCommerce, shoved by shifting consumer expectations.

Personalization is one superpower of online commerce, but what passed for personalized eCommerce in 2020 and 2021 is evolving into “tailored shopping” that goes beyond basic algorithmic suggestions to deliver the richer online experiences that keep customers coming back.

This is found in data from The Tailored Shopping Experience: Meeting Consumer’s Online Expectations, a collaboration with Elastic Path, based on a survey of nearly 2,100 U.S. consumers and showing that 67% of consumers who know about tailored experiences and are willing to switch merchants to access it.

We define tailored online shopping as using known information about customers to help merchants create customer-centric experiences and a unique feel for online stores with precise product recommendations, better product matching and uncomplicated rewards.

With two-thirds of respondents expressing healthy interest in these experiences, let’s meet these fans of what’s also called “composable commerce” and see what motivates them.

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‘Product Seekers’ Are Younger and Focused

There are slow browsers, and there are fast transactors. The group we identify as “Product Seekers” comprise close to a third (30%) of consumers who show heightened interest in deeper personalization to quickly locate items they already have in mind when they go online.

According to the study, “Their interest comes primarily from the desire to find a specific product they want, and they are relatively less price-sensitive. Product-seekers tend to be younger males.”

The demographics of this infamously impatient slice of eCommerce users lean toward millennials and bridge millennials, as we found half of bridge millennials and 53% of millennials “very” or “extremely” interested in engaging in a new more bespoke online shopping modes.

Interest is also high among high-income earners — another data point that lines up with millennials and bridge millennials — as 40% of respondents earning more than $100,000 per year are “very” or “extremely” interested in these more online shopping experiences.

‘Exacting Consumers’ Are Connected, Decisive

Representing a small but influential group, those we categorize as “Exacting Consumers” are exactly that. Like product seekers, they know precisely what they want and the right price to pay for it.

At just 8% of consumers, this grouping wants “all aspects of tailored shopping, including shipping, to be fast and cheap. They also want features that make shopping quick and convenient. They spend less time and less money than either product-seekers or delivery-focused consumers. Exacting shoppers have slightly higher incomes, tend to be female and are much more likely to own more connected devices,” the study states.

Because tailored shopping experiences center on ease of use and “appeal to busy people who don’t want to sort through irrelevant product recommendations, filter through products outside their price point or pay too much for shipping,” they’re ideal for the exacting.

‘Delivery-Focused’ Will Switch for Tailored Options

While delivery-focused describes a habit a great many consumers acquired since 2020, as we move into digital shift phase 2, expectations around delivery play a larger role in experience.

Anxious about online data privacy and keen on “sourcing products inexpensively and quickly,” “Delivery-Focused” fans of tailored online shopping is more price-sensitive than other cohorts, yet “they also tend to spend more on their purchases and spend a bit more time shopping online. Delivery-focused consumers tend to be younger males,” per the study.

After “Exacting Shoppers,” the “Delivery-Focused” persona is the most likely to switch merchants to enjoy the benefits of tailored shopping experiences in 2022.

It’s spelled out in the study data as 45% of consumers are drawn to “easily finding the exact product they are looking for, and for 41%, a low cost or free delivery. The next most important features cited are personalized recommendations, a priority for 36% of consumers, followed closely by fast delivery options, important to 35% of respondents.”

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