An article in the Baltimore Sun released earlier this week stated that consumers look, but don't buy, online. I also heard this same story on my local radio station during my drive into work. As someone who has been closely tied to the online world for the last 10 years I know this isn't true.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 40 percent to 55 percent of shoppers surveyed said they looked online for information but they more often relied on brick-and-mortar stores - or human agents - when it came time to buy.
That may have been true 20 years ago when people would go into a retail store to talk to a well-informed salesperson, but the Internet has changed that. What was this hyperbole-touting reporter thinking?
As you read deeper into the article you find the categories the Pew survey was studying - cell phones, music and housing. Ah HA! Now it all makes sense. Cell Phones? People don't buy cell phones, they buy cell phone plans. They get the phone that comes with the plan. And they don't buy plans online. There are tens of thousands of verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile stores and kiosks around the country to pick up these plans. Music? Do people go to Sony BMG or Warner Music Group to figure out the next CD you want to buy? No, you listen to the radio and you talk to people. Music is a commodity product that can be easily picked up in brick-and-mortar stores and usually isn't worth the online shipping costs you may incur to buy it online. Housing. Housing? Are you telling me people don't buy housing online? I'm shocked. They research online and then shop with a realtor. It makes sense to me.
So things that are not bought online are not bought online - a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's stories like this that give eCommerce a bad rap. Spouting statistics about services and commodity products and giving people the impression that these are indicators of how well eCommerce is doing overall, is misleading. From every indication I've seen in our business and every survey we've done in the past five years, eCommerce is alive and kicking and as strong as ever.
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