In this digital era, it is important for companies to keep a close watch on how consumers behave online. There is a clear difference between what a customer expects in-store versus what they expect online. Internet shopping has made a paradigm shift in the shopping experience.

How is online shopping different from retail store shopping?

To begin with, the mindset is different when a customer makes efforts to reach a physical store versus ordering something while scrolling through their feed.

However, the basic behaviour of any customer will tread us back to the fundamentals of marketing. Based on the latest developments in the market, the general buyer’s persona can be distinguished. One may fall under any category, but the retailer must track the behaviour and appropriately set a strategy to convert them.

There are various factors that affect the behaviour of a consumer. Personal preference, social influence and psychological factors contribute to shaping the way a consumer behaves online.

This article discusses the top five shoppers’ behaviour and ways to use them for the selling advantage. The pattern is universal and is not limited to a particular geography. E-commerce retailers should identify the most relevant behaviour group based on their product and sales strategy.

Convenience Shoppers

It is no surprise that the UK is leading in the e-commerce segment with over 80% of the total population making online purchases. This global trend is the main contributor in giving rise to convenience shoppers. These are people who buy large shop products for the sake of convenience. They value the online platform and irrespective of quality, variety or price, they tend to shop online for the convenience it offers.

Consumers who make shopping decisions for convenience will not worry too much about the shipping cost. They would expect the retail e-commerce to have up to date information on products and services. The best way to convert these shoppers is to make sure all the products from necessary to luxury products available on the mobile application.

Get-Set-Go Shoppers

These are the shoppers who are easy to influence. They resort to impulsive buying and hence can be converted in a relatively short span of time. These shoppers might not have a specific product in mind. They have no goals in making purchases but they like new information on the product. They prefer to stay updated about the latest products and deals.

It is not very difficult to convert these types of customers. As the first step, the retailers need to give attractive deals and make it easily accessible online. The marketing efforts must include posting across all social media channels and give ads to impress customers from this category.

Most early professionals will constitute in this category as they would like to experiment new products and look for offers.

Any newly launched products with unique features can be attractive for these customers as they are experimental in nature.

Research Shoppers

These are the shoppers who research the product, market and take time to make their purchasing decisions. They stand opposite to the get-set-go categories of shoppers. Converting them is quite a task but it can be advantageous if your product is competitive in the market.

Around 53% shoppers research about the products they want before they actually make the purchasing decision. They usually have a set idea to buy a product and spend considerable time in understanding the quality, usefulness and varieties. It is not difficult to convert these customers, but the strategy in marketing & promotion must be taken into consideration.

For instance, usually a customer will research extensively about big budget products. Consumer electronics and appliances are some examples. They try to compare the product with other products, look into after sale services, warranty period,etc. Since it is a one time purchase they tend to spend time undertaking complete research.

Making sure your product is displayed and optimised to google ads is the best way to get the attention of these types of customers. Since, it is a one time purchase making sure the competitor product availability is

Omnichannel Shoppers

Omnichannel shopping is the outcome of recent developments in social media and internet marketing. In today’s time, attracting omnichannel shoppers has become the most important task for retailers. Six out of ten customers use any of the digital channels to shop their apparels or garments. This is not just limited to the apparel segment, more and more customers are moving faster for a seamless shopping experience. A recent forecast reported that 74.7 million US consumers will be omnichannel shoppers by 2025. This number will be adding another $8.4 billion in sales.

As these shoppers are across all the channels, to convert them- retailers must understand their touchpoints through the buying journey. One in four people who click on ads end up in-store for buying. This means the infrastructure capacity is a prerequisite. These kinda shoppers tend to be high-end consumers with great detail of knowledge about the product.

Price Sensitive Shoppers

These shoppers are central to the retail business. Since most of the multi-retail brands sell homogeneous products, the majority of the customers make their decision based on the pricing difference.

Even a small change in price will make them abandon their cart. These shoppers are an extension of the research shoppers. There are multiple sites that allow a customer to compare prices and choose accordingly. Moreover, these shoppers rely on a simple google search to compare and check the prices of the products they wish to buy.

Most of them even check the prices before going to the store. This means, they are extremely sensitive to price change. If the price falls they would buy more and if the price rises, they might not buy. This price comparison website idealo, compares prices offered by various retailers and allows customers to take the right decision.

To convert these shoppers, the solution is quite simple. Ensure to keep the price lower than your competitors and win the market. pricechecker is a tool that helps retailers to track the competitors price and create the best pricing strategy to increase sales.

A consumer can have qualities of more than one behaviour. It becomes essential for the retail brands to strategize and be competitive in the market.