The Shift in Retail to Online Storefronts
Did you know that the first recorded online purchase was made over 25 years ago? That means since the beginning of online shopping, we have gone from dial-up internet to 5G capabilities! Back then, we used to flip through the pages of the encyclopedia, phone book, or newspaper just wishing there was an easier way to find information. We could have never imagined something like Google would even exist! It's fascinating to think about the different ways technology has made our lives easier from immediate access to information, to ordering anything you want and having it brought to you with the click of a button. Speaking of ordering anything, have you noticed how many more stores are creating online shops? Well, here’s why:
#1 There is a High Demand
Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed with tasks and not enough time in a day? When you have too many tasks and places to go in a day, you really don’t realize how much of that time is actually spent on transportation, parking, browsing, and in check-out lines. For these reasons, many customers find that online shopping is much more time efficient because it actually removes 4 of the 5 time consuming tasks mentioned previously. Today in 2020, there are approximately 7.8 billion people in the world and 2.05 billion of them are online shoppers which means a bit more than ¼ of the world's population are online shoppers. About 20% of shoppers are ordering weekly, 24% every two weeks, and 64% at least once a month. Thats a lot of customers!
#2 It is on a Stable Growth Incline
Since the first online purchase was made, the trend of online shopping has been steadily rising on average 9% each year and is predicted to spike more significantly by the year 2023. In fact, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the graph curve was neither affected in a positive nor a negative way. The only noticeable change was in the number of stores that created an online platform. Even a worldwide pandemic that has shaken the world couldn't shake this. If that's not steady, I don’t know what is.
#3 Matterport and Other Technologies
So, we already discussed how technology has made it possible to shop online but let's take a moment to appreciate how interactive it has become! Browsers or window shoppers have always enjoyed flipping through the aisles and thanks to Matterport’s interactive tags this is still possible! Recent studies show 81% of shoppers do some form of online research before making big purchases and 88% of shoppers look for interactive content, pictures, or videos before making a purchase. Here’s the best part - 92% of shoppers say visuals have the biggest influence on their buying decision and product videos can increase conversion rates up to 144%!
The curve has already been moving up for the past 25 years and it is predicted to continue growing. If Google was just a figment of our imagination 25 years ago, you don't want to get left behind on this bandwagon. So jump on, hold on tight, and enjoy the ride!