NEW YORK and LONDON, January 21,
2015 /PRNewswire/ --
An Average Spend of
£292/$400 Online, but Shipping is the
Achilles' Heel of Online Shopping
According to research by Wipro Digital, the digital
transformation business of Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT), 71% of surveyed
consumers in UK and 61% in US, reported doing more than half their
2014 holiday shopping online. This is a significant increase from
2013, when 45% in UK and 36% in US reported doing the majority of
their shopping online.
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This trend is set to continue with half of the surveyed
consumers in US and UK saying that they plan to do more shopping,
online in the 2015 holiday season, as compared to just 6% in UK and
4% in US who plan to increase their in-store shopping.
"Consumers continue their steady march online, finding few
reasons to shop in-store rather than online for their holiday
shopping," said Avinash Rao,
Global Head, Wipro Digital. "But even online, omnichannel
retailers are losing customers to internet pure-plays. Bricks and
mortar retailers are having difficulty delivering on the benefits
of omnichannel retailing."
The research also found that consumers are spending more online
than in-store when it comes to holiday shopping. UK consumers spent
an average of £292 online compared to £179 in-store this holiday
season. In the US, online purchases averaged $400 and in-store $302.
This trend to shop online is being driven by three factors:
greater convenience, better prices and ease of use. Online pure
play retailers are the big winners of this shift. 44% of UK and 47%
of US shoppers report doing more than half their online shopping on
such sites. A quarter of the shoppers are not even considering
bricks and mortar retailers' websites while more than half are not
visiting manufacturers' 'direct-to-consumer' websites either.
However, shipping costs associated with online shopping are a
concern for consumers, according to the research. Nearly half of
the consumers hope not to pay shipping charges next year - the most
important change consumers expect in the 2015 holiday season. In
addition, 16% of UK and 11% of US online shoppers did not receive
their purchases in time for the holiday. "Shipping is the Achilles'
heel of online shopping," said Rao. "If online pure plays
are unable to offer free shipping on every order and consumers
worry that they will not receive their purchases in-time, bricks
and mortar retailers may be able to regain some of their lost
customers next year."
Even when consumers browse both online and in a store, many
choose to go back online to make their purchase. 34% of UK
consumers and 33% of US consumers reported this multi-channel
experience. 'There is no doubt consumers are interacting with
brands across both the online and in-store channels," according
to Rao. He went on to say "But omnichannel retailers are
missing a big opportunity to capture the 1/3 of consumers who say
they are researching in store but leave to buy online," said
Rao.
Meanwhile, 39% of UK consumers and 40% of US consumers reported
doing part of their shopping from a smartphone or tablet device. Of
those who did, 78% of UK and 81% of US consumers used a mobile
website, 76% of UK and 74% of US consumers used a full-site version
and 50% of both UK and US consumers used a native app. With respect
to mobile payments, only 3% of UK and 4% of US consumers reported
using any form of mobile payment.
To counter the trend of consumers increasing their shopping with
pure play online retailers, bricks and mortar retailers must focus
on customer interactions and the benefits of the physical store.
"Online pure play retailers are succeeding as they understand
customer expectations and are exceptionally good at delivering
against them," said Rao. He further said, "Omnichannel
retailers need to invest more in understanding and improving the
customer experience journey to entice shoppers to spend more with
them in-store. Customer journey engineering as an approach to
understanding, designing and delivering relevant and differentiated
customer experiences across all channels and touch points will help
retailers reverse the trend and avoid a future when consumers are
no longer visiting their stores."
Methodology
This Post Holiday Consumer Survey is based on 2,023 online
respondents in the US (1,006) and UK (1,017) of ages 18-50 polled
from January 5-8, 2015. Wipro
Digital also conducted a Pre-Holiday Consumer Survey in December
2014 of 2,000 consumers in the US and UK. Comparisons between the
before and after holiday experience are drawn from these two
surveys.
About Wipro Digital
Wipro Digital collaborates with clients to deliver
customer-centered digital transformation. Working at the
intersection of strategy, design and technology, we derive insight,
shape interaction, drive integration and unlock innovation for our
clients. Drawing on 150,000 employees across Wipro, we engineer
extraordinary experiences for global brands, businesses and their
customers at scale. Learn more at wiprodigital.com or
@WiproDigital.
About Wipro Ltd.
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT) is a leading information technology,
consulting and business process services company that delivers
solutions to enable its clients do business better. Wipro delivers
winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and
a 360 degree view of "Business through Technology" - helping
clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company
recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a
practitioner's approach to delivering innovation, and an
organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro has a
workforce of over 150,000, serving clients in 175+ cities across 6
continents. For more information, please visit
http://www.wipro.com
Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth
prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of
risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks
and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not
limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our
earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage
growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain
our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain
highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on
fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration,
restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our
international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key
focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability
to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions,
liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the
companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of
fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal
restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside
India, unauthorized use of our
intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting
our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our
future operating results are more fully described in our filings
with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These
filings are available at http://www.sec.gov. We may, from time to
time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements,
including statements contained in the company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders.
We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that
may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.
Wipro media contact:
Gitanjali Sreepal
+9180 39918018
gitanjali.sreepal@wipro.com
SOURCE Wipro Limited