Buying online continues to be the preferred course for most, post-pandemic, according to BigCommerce and PayPal
Consumers have changed their e-commerce shopping habits over the pandemic and are now looking for easier ways to pay, according to a new survey.
According to the study from BigCommerce and PayPal, which gathered data from 3,000 shoppers in the US, UK and Australia, buying online is still the preferred course for most, post-pandemic. Nearly half of respondents said they were discovering new products on social media at least once a month, fuelled by the convenience factor.
Nearly 62.5% of those surveyed said they were now committed to shopping online. Key to the decision was being able to choose their preferred payment method, such as using digital wallets, while 66.7 of those surveyed revealed that they’ve made a purchase using their phone at least once in the last month.
The use of digital wallets surged during the global coronavirus pandemic. Prior to March 2020 digital wallet usage represented just 28.3% of the payment methods used by online shoppers around the globe. The figure climbed to 35.2% after March 2020. The percentage of consumers who use the digital wallet payment option in-store has seen similar growth, going from 12.1% to 22.8% in the same period.
Consumers are also looking to buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions. Indeed, 20% of US merchants now offer BNPL options at the checkout. However, the range and ease of e-commerce options out there are also driving the demand for online shopping.
Recent announcements by firms such as Facebook and the e-commerce platform Shopify will make it increasingly easy for consumers to shop and pay online, with multiple routes to the point of sale terminal or digital checkout.
For years, we’ve seen e-commerce continue to gain ground on traditional shopping. Online and digitized experiences have required retailers to quickly adapt to changing consumer shopping behaviours, and this was expedited in the pandemic, said Greg Lisiewski, vice president of Global Pay Later Products at PayPal.
He said: Now more than ever, consumers want to be in control of how they pay, and they have a desire for friction-free, seamless digital shopping experiences regardless of which channel they are shopping in.