Consumers Like Shopping Online — But They’re Much More Wary of Buying High-Ticket Items, According to Survey
Ella Chochrek
Assistant Digital Editor
While consumers are far more comfortable with digital shopping, many are still not willing to make big-ticket purchases on the web, according to a recent survey.
The survey of 500 consumers, from exchange-traded funds provider Global X ETFs, found that 40% of customers are comfortable making small-ticket buys digitally. Meanwhile, only 15% of shoppers would make online purchases of more expensive items, such as cars, fine jewelry and property (homes/apartments).
More than half of shoppers are willing to head online to buy clothing (55%) or shoes (43%). But as prices rise, the more wary consumers are — with just 12% of respondents saying they’d buy fine jewelry digitally and only 7% saying they’d get a car via the web.
Around one in five survey respondents said they felt uncomfortable altogether with the idea of buying items online that they hadn’t first seen in person.
“Technology has advanced at such a rapid pace that consumers are still familiarizing themselves with these revolutionary products,” Global X head of strategy and research Jay Jacobs said in a release. “It’s incredibly exciting to see just how much more room there is to grow for these burgeoning industries.”
While some customers are still reluctant to make large buys online, e-commerce is a booming sector.
E-comm is expected to continue to rise as familiarity with product expands. Case in point: Digital business researcher eMarketer projects the worldwide e-comm market to hit $3.535 trillion in 2019 alone, a 20.7% rise over last year.
A prime example is China’s JD.com. The Beijing-based firm — widely considered one of the largest e-commerce players in the world — last month reported second-quarter profits of $90.7 million. Revenues during the same period climbed 22.9% to $21.9 billion.
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