What Do Online Shoppers Want? Postcode Anywhere Releases Ecommerce Survey Results

WORCESTER, England, November 29, 2011 -

Worcester-based address auto-fill software company Postcode Anywhere releases the final results of its 2011 ecommerce study today.

The survey, which polled 1,000 UK consumers on their experiences with online shopping, investigates opinions on issues ranging from website usability to postal delivery. An infographic of the key findings is now available to download on the company website at www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/online-shopping-2011.aspx.

Postcode Anywhere has also released the raw data in full, which includes results cross-referenced with age, gender, location, earnings and education level.

Key findings:

• Speedy checkout
  The majority of consumers (76%) rate a speedy checkout as important or very important to their overall shopping experience.
• Cart abandonment
  As the top reasons given for abandoning an online purchase, overlong website forms and security concerns were the two most common gripes for consumers.
• Men and women
  Female shoppers rely more on online product reviews than men when making decisions. 36% more women than men rated customer reviews as “very important” when shopping online.
• Timed deliveries
  Almost two thirds of consumers (64.3%) want timed delivery slots when ordering online.
• Click-and-collect
  Over half of consumers (51.9%) value mixed-mode buying, saying an option to collect goods in-store is important.
• Christmas delivery
  Almost one in ten people (9.3%) said they had been put off shopping online this Christmas because of previous problems with delivery.

Postcode Anywhere’s managing director Guy Mucklow said: “Ecommerce revenues increase year-on-year. In late 2011, one pound in every ten is now spent online, and over 90% of retail sales growth comes from ecommerce. But the industry mustn’t be complacent. As this report shows, continuous improvements must still be made along the whole buying process - from product research, through payment processes, down to the actual delivery of goods.

“We would urge online businesses to take the time to make sure that small things aren’t damaging their performance. The importance of a clean, quick and professional-looking website cannot be underestimated.

“The survey also highlighted just how important the delivery process is. An overwhelming two-thirds of consumers rate timed deliveries as important to their overall shopping experience, which shows the buying process doesn’t finish when the customer leaves your site: fulfilment needs to be scrutinised too.

“For an online business to succeed there needs to be a clear focus on the whole customer journey.

“However you want to interpret the results, we feel that while shoppers are generally more confident than ever buying online, the ecommerce industry mustn’t take this for granted.”

The survey results in full are available at the Postcode Anywhere website: www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/online-shopping-2011.aspx.

Notes for editors

About Postcode Anywhere

Postcode Anywhere supplies software and services which improve the day-to-day operations of over 8,000 organisations worldwide. Best known as a provider of address auto-fill and verification software, the company offers a range of data-driven services, including route planning, customer profiling and bank account validation. It is now the fastest-growing reseller of Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF®) and the market leader for online address auto-fill. A multi-award-winning organisation, it has also appeared in Deloitte’s European fast-growth technology company list for three years running. For more information about Postcode Anywhere, please visit www.postcodeanywhere.com.

Recent Awards and Recognition for Postcode Anywhere

• Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA 2008/9, 2009/10 & 2010/11
• Red Herring Top 100 Europe - 2010
• Best Small IT Supplier of the Year - UK IT Industry Awards (finalist) - 2009
• Dell Small Business Excellence Award (UK finalist) - 2009
• Small-Medium Sized Business of the Year (regional finalist) - National Business Awards 2009
• Orange Best Use of Technology (Midlands) - 2008 National Business Awards
• Growth Business of the Year - Chamber Awards 2008
• Small Business of the Year - Chamber Awards 2008
• Customer Service Team of the Year (finalist) - National Customer Services Awards 2008

Media contact for Postcode Anywhere
Jim Williams - PR Manager
jim@postcodeanywhere.com
+44(0)1905-888-562
Press centre at: www.postcodeanywhere.com/press

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