The Perks of Shopping Online

The holiday shopping season is upon us and postal services around the world are bracing for the busiest period of the year. A combination of tight schedules, gift buying obligations and fear of missing out on the best Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals will convince the last online shopping skeptics to hit “add to cart” during the holiday period, when online sales typically spike.

Many Americans don’t need any extra motivation to do a lot of their shopping online, though, as it offers some undeniable advantages over the brick-and-mortar experience. According to Statista Consumer Insights, many of those advantages can be summarized as convenience, including fast delivery, infinite opening hours and simple returns. 56 percent of respondents said that fast or free delivery recently convinced them to make an online purchase, proving that patience is not a virtue that online shoppers value highly.

Beyond the obvious perks, the modern consumer is also motivated by the extras that brick-and-mortar stores simply can’t match. Nearly one in three shoppers love exclusive online deals, while 25 percent of respondents place their trust in online customer reviews, because who knows better what we need than “Karen from Ohio”? Interestingly, the ability to shop without human interaction rounds off the list of popular online shopping perks, as it levels the playing field for introvert shoppers.