MediaPost
SPONSORED
BY Honey
As Online Window Shopping Soars, How Can
Retailers Reel Shoppers In?
At this very moment, in home offices, kitchens, and living rooms
all over the country, millions of Americans are on their computers, tablets,
and cellphones engaging in a favorite pastime: window shopping. Online window
shopping is hardly new, notes Celiena Adcock, head of GTM and Global Business
Marketing at Honey, an online shopping platform that saves consumers time and
money through loyalty and deal finding. “My friends do it all the time,” she
says. “They’re looking to get a sense of what’s out there. They’re window
shopping to get inspired.”
“Window shopping has become so important for
consumers that 15% said that this is how they start each day.”
But window shopping has changed since COVID-19. As consumers work
remotely and teach their kids at home, window shopping has become a source of
escapism and comfort in a difficult time. In fact, according to a survey* of
more than 2,000 American consumers conducted by 4Media Research in September, 58%
of respondents now define themselves as window shoppers, with 41% saying they
are spending their time window shopping to “take my mind off things,” and 30%
explaining that window shopping helps them pass the time when they’re feeling
bored. Window shopping has become so important for these consumers that 15%
said that this is how they start each day.
But Are They Buying?
But are they browsing—or are they buying? For some merchants,
especially those selling groceries and other utilitarian goods, sales “have
skyrocketed since COVID,” notes Adcock. However, she wonders, “When was the
last time you bought yourself a new pair of pants or shoes? It’s harder now
because of the economic uncertainty. Plus, when are we going to go outside to
work or school? When will we actually need those things? People are wary of
making purchases that might seem indulgent.”
Still, survey results show that window shopping is not necessarily
a day-dreaming activity. Ninety-one percent of respondents said they’ve
purchased at least one item while window shopping, and more than a quarter of
respondents said they made more than five purchases during their
window-shopping expeditions. Just as importantly, nearly half of window
shoppers said that when they’re window shopping, they are also actively making
lists for future purchases, and 37% are taking screen shots of items they
intend to purchase at a later date.
So, the question, Adcock says, is “how do we get their attention
and show them that this is the right thing to buy—and the right time to buy
it?”
Why Deals Work
“Half of all survey respondents said that a good
deal would stop them in their tracks, while only 20% said that social
influencers had the same impact.”
The answer, she explains, is deals. Half of all survey respondents
said that a good deal would stop them in their tracks, while only 20% said that
social influencers had the same impact. It’s clear, Adcock says, that a
retailer that offers these shoppers a promo code or a coupon or tells them
about a price reduction not only sets itself apart from the competition (and
92% of respondents said they’re shopping multiple online retailers at any one
time), but also goes a long way toward convincing the browsing shopper that the
time to buy is now.
The time-bound offer, adds Adcock, is especially effective. “It
allows the shopper to say, ‘Hey, I’m getting a good deal. I can get this now!”
With an incentive to take immediate action, the offer not only makes the
consumer feel like a “savvy shopper,” she says, but it also allows them to
“feel less guilty about purchasing.”
At Honey, which was acquired by PayPal earlier this year, Adcock
explains that while her team generally focuses its marketing efforts on a
younger, relatively affluent demographic, its recent success and the increasing
word of mouth about its offers have not only enlarged but also broadened its
audience tremendously.
The goal of all of Honey’s offerings is to help online shoppers,
as Adcock puts it, “convert with confidence.” The company’s Savings Finder is a
utilitarian tool that “lets people know they can convert from browsing to
buying on the website on which they happen to be shopping. The tool aims to
prevent shoppers from having to scour the internet for coupons and give them
confidence that they're getting a great deal, whether or not a coupon is
available. Its Honey Gold** loyalty program provides shoppers with a reward
they can use at a later date each time they buy from a retailer that offers
Honey Gold. And Honey Offers, which are time-bound deals, serve to tie shoppers
to the website they’re shopping on. And that strategy appears to be working:
The company has witnessed a 12% reduction in cross-site comparisons among
shoppers who have seen a Honey Offer***.
The Additive Effect
Though Honey works with specific retailers, it sees itself as what
Adcock calls “an additive” to the shopping experience that merchants develop on
their own sites. “We’re like a trust builder between the shopper and the
merchants,” she explains. “The retailers are doing their work to keep you
online, and then we’re the trusted third party that tries to find you some of
the best deals. And because we aren’t necessarily tied to one brand, we can
provide a broader benefit. We know that, in the process, we’re giving shoppers
a joyful feeling.”
While stopping online window shoppers in their tracks with
coupons, offers, and loyalty programs might inspire those shoppers to take the
leap and fill their shopping cart, it doesn’t necessarily get them past check
out. As Adcock notes, “shopping cart abandonment is a crisis.”
Next week, we’ll look at why so many shopping carts are being
abandoned and what merchants can do to not only counter this trend but reverse
it.
* An online study commissioned by Honey, a part of
the PayPal offering, conducted by 4Media Research in September 2020. The study
researched 2,010 adults in the U.S (general population representative) via on
online survey. The overall margin of error of the overall sample is
+/- 2 percentage points with a confidence interval of 95 percent. The field
work took place between September 14th and September 18th, 2020. 4Media is an
independent market creative research agency.
** Honey Golder Terms Apply joinhoney.com/terms
*** According to Honey Internal Data as of Q3 2020
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