Average online customers use computer for researching: study from FuturePay

These are the findings of The Big Ticket: What’s Stopping Shoppers? study conducted by FuturePay, a financing solutions provider. The data was gathered in Q4 2016. The study dives into “big ticket” online shopping, the frustrations getting in way of completing those purchases and others, and how alternative, non-credit card payment options and financing can influence the experience. Of the 1,500 US shoppers surveyed for this study, 92% shop online at least a few times a month.

31% of daily shoppers prefer to research on mobile, compared to 12% of those who shop online a few times a year. Daily shoppers browse broader product categories than the average shopper and are twice as likely to buy furniture and fine jewelry online, for example.

Top reasons for cart abandonment are cost of order (72%), lack of payment options (16%), hassle of return (22%), cost of shipping (86%), security concerns (13%). The few concerns facing online shoppers are website that doesn’t work on phone/tablet (28%), shipping costs (85%), website that doesn’t feel safe/secure (38%), lack of payment options (26%), checkout forms that are too long (26%), website that is too slow (27%). 40% of daily shoppers indicated lack of payment options as a common frustration.

56% of all shoppers have made a big ticket purchase online in 2016 or are planning to do so in 2017. 75% of daily shoppers have made a big ticket purchase online or are planning to, compared to 33% of those who shop online a few times a year.

62% of respondents are more likely to buy big ticket items in-store than online. 66% have added an item to their shopping cart, only to then give up on the purchase. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers have bought or plan on buying a large electronic item online. There’s a significant drop-off for luxury goods (6%) and fine jewelry (4%), as shoppers are hesitant to buy such products online.

29% of shoppers have used a layaway programme. For daily online shoppers, this number jumps to 40%. 56% of all shoppers would be more likely to buy a big ticket item online if financing options were available – this number jumps to 73% for daily shoppers.

68%, as well as 79% of daily shoppers, would be more likely to make a big ticket purchase if they could break it up into smaller payments. When it comes to big ticket items that cost less than USD 1,000, 47% would choose alternative financing instead of a credit card to complete a purchase. Even 15% of shoppers were willing to make the switch away from a credit card at a price point as low as USD 200.

Here are a few key considerations retailers should make when offering a non-credit card payment option: no hidden fees, low interest rate, flexible payment schedule.

71% of respondents said a retailer providing more ways to pay than just a credit card is “very important” or “somewhat important, service fees (24%), I don’t know enough about layaway (48%), programme not available (18%).

74% of those aged 18-35 responded that having more payment options was “very important” or “somewhat important.”