High Street Shopping Preferred Due To Poor eCommerce Experiences

A new research conducted by mobile shopping app Udozi overthrows the popular belief that e-commerce is taking the place of traditional in-store shopping, which now seems to disappoint consumers with extraordinary high delivery costs and unsatisfactory shopping experience.

The study, which garnered responses from 2,105 adults on the web, revealed that 41% still prefer to feel the charm of in-store shopping by visiting the local high street or a shopping centre. Just 29% of the respondents claimed that Internet was the most likely place they would turn to when looking to buy an item.

Consumers now tend to realise some of the false benefits and disadvantages of online shopping, for instance the high delivery charges, the impossibility of getting a real look of a particular product and the long shipping times, despite the chance of making an exceptionally advantageous deal online. All these aspects of e-commerce make consumers shun online shopping and go to physical stores instead.

Owners of hi-tech gadgets also seem to be quite reluctant as to using their devices for online shopping, due to the need of having a raft of shopping apps for different stores. The report, however, brings forward the significance of mobile technologies in terms of delivering a rounded shopping experience for consumers. Currently, 26% of smartphone owners and 35% of tablet users conduct an online research through their devices before visiting a physical store, which means that mobile has the ability to compensate for consumers’ disappointment with online shopping and draw them back to the high street.