Online shopping adoption is on the increase, with 83 percent consumers making online purchases on a weekly basis, a recent survey has unveiled.

According to the study conducted by Compete, a subsidiary of US research company Kantar Media, the number of consumers who search products from retailers on Facebook and Twitter is continuously growing, since 31 percent of participants have claimed that they check out Facebook fan pages or Twitter feeds of retailers, almost twice as many people as in Q3 2009.

In the following period of 2010, entertainment products such as movies, music, video games, e-media and books will stand out as the most popular products online, followed by clothing items, the same source points out.

The study has also shown that in spite of the fact that consumers do online research for the electronic products they want to buy, 40 percent of them prefer to complete the purchase at a store. The main reasons for such tendency are the desire to avoid shipping costs (62 percent), to try on, touch or feel an item (57 percent) and immediacy (50 percent).

In order to push further the online purchase of products, retailers should offer consumers various incentives such as free shipping (87 percent), free returns (63 percent), and fast shipping (42 percent), the same survey highlights. In addition, the ability to use in-store coupons online is increasingly valued among consumers since 51 percent of participants have indicated that this is a motivator to make more purchases online, up from the 19 percent reported in Q1 2010.