The latest consumer research from Contentsquare spotlights the top frustrations for online holiday shopping. The leading “pain points” include slow site loading times, too many pop-ups and unavailable products.
The researchers at the company also found shoppers frustrated over no quick-purchase options for checkout — such as PayPal or Apple Pay. Other troubles included poor search results and sites that are configured for mobile use as well as promotions that did not work properly.
Related Articles
John O’Melia, chief customer officer at Contentsquare, says ease of online shopping and a reduced number of annoyances are critical for online shoppers. “We’ve seen from internal data that while cart abandonment is lower during the holidays than at other times of the year, the high occurrence of ‘rage clicking’ indicates shoppers are also more frustrated during the holidays, even when shopping online,” O’Melia said. “Retailers that ignore slow loading times, misuse pop-ups, promote out-of-stock items, and have inconvenient payment options do so at the risk of losing a significant amount of customers and sales.”
The survey found that 54 percent of respondents would shop at another site if a retailer’s site or app loaded too slowly. “Interestingly, more than one-third of shoppers also indicated they are likely to reconsider finalizing a holiday purchase when they reach the checkout page if a promotion doesn’t work,” the report’s authors noted. “No free shipping deterred 25 percent of consumers surveyed from finalizing their purchase, and 15 percent left because the checkout page was either too slow or crashed.”
You May Also Like
The survey results are a red flag for retailers as consumers are pulling back on spending and are more frugal and careful with their money. This creates a more competitive field as brands and retailers battle for a share of the customer’s wallet. As a result, retailers with frictionless shopping experiences are likely to win the day.
Still, some segments are expected to see steady sales. The Contentsquare report found that the luxury vertical “will continue to see strong results, with shoppers indicating that they are most excited to purchase luxury items (27 percent) this holiday season, followed by gift cards (16 percent), apparel and shoes (15 percent), electronics (12 percent) and toys (11 percent).”
Other key findings include that 67 percent of consumers polled said they expect to spend the same or more time holiday shopping this year as compared to last year. And 45 percent of respondents said they will start shopping during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. “Eighty percent of shoppers indicated that they will do at least half of their holiday shopping online this year, with 44 percent of shoppers preferring to shop online on their couch in front of their TV,” the report noted. “During the season, almost 60 percent of consumers surveyed prefer to shop online on the weekdays.”
The research also revealed that experience influences consumers more than social media. “Social media will be used by 36 percent of respondents for gift inspiration, with 13 percent purchasing directly from social channels including TikTok, Instagram and Facebook,” the report stated. “However, the power of social media influencers may be waning, as more than two-thirds (69 percent) of respondents say that recommendations from social media influencers will not affect their holiday purchasing decisions.”