Frustrations drive Aussie online shoppers to retail stores

Nearly half of online shoppers in Australia and New Zealand have abandoned a purchase after experiencing frustrations with the website, a survey shows.

Rackspace polled more than 1000 shoppers across the two countries, discovering that 45% had abandoned an online purchase due to website performance issues, while 47% have gone to a different site to buy the same product.

Online frustrations are driving some users back to brick-and-mortar stores, with 29% of respondents reporting having given up on an online purchase and visited a shop instead.

In addition, while 83% shopped online for the convenience, 44% believe traditional retail shopping is faster if they know what they're looking for and 44% prefer the service they receive in-store.

According to the respondents, the top frustrations with e-commerce include too many pop-up advertisements, inferior service and the time-consuming task of narrowing down the options available.

But more than half of online shoppers agree that there is more variety than in brick-and-mortar stores. While 37% have used web search filters to shop online, 42% complain that online search categories do not match their required criteria.

“People shop online due to the convenience it offers, but they are being driven away because they aren’t able to navigate through to purchase quickly and easily enough,” Rackspace ANZ Director and General Manager Angus Dorney said.

“Retailers should apply the same, simple, old-fashioned customer service values to their online site as they would to the physical shopfront. It should be inviting, easy to navigate and helpful.”

Image courtesy of Gareth Saunders under CC