Online shopping grows in popularity
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By Kristiina Yli-Kovero
Finland has at least 3,000 businesses where purchases are ordered and paid for over the Internet. The number is constantly growing.
According to a study by Itella (formerly Finland Post), online shopping has become increasingly typical part of Finnish consumption habits. An Internet shop is a shop among others. Those making purchases on line believe that it is also safe.
In a similar study made a year ago, the security of online purchases was a matter of much greater concern. Now the most important consideration is the ease of buying.
People buy things on line in order to ease everyday life. It is also important that making comparisons among goods is easy, the total price is clearly marked, and deliveries are prompt. An especially important consideration is that deliveries are made when promised.
Picking up deliveries and returns also need to be easy.
An Internet user is easy to entice into buying things if the goods on offer stand out, or if they are difficult to find anywhere else.
A good deal is also attractive. Leena Poutanen, head of online services at Itella, says that a good deal does not mean just a low price, but rather a good price-quality ratio.
The experience of using the Internet is important for an online buyer. People want to enjoy the time that they spend on line. For some people, web pages actually provide content and fulfillment to a person's life, and even foster a sense of community.
Many would like for online shops to put more effort into communicating with customers.
Booking travel and hotel rooms is the most popular way of surfing the Internet. Half of respondents to Itella's study have done so, while 40 per cent have bought admission tickets to various cultural or sporting events.
Only in third place is the first traditional store for goods. Nearly 40 per cent of respondents have bought books and magazines over the Internet. Slightly fewer have bought clothing and shoes, while 30 per cent have bought music and videos.
The Itella study was conducted in January and February this year. Responses came from more than 14,000 users of the Internet, of whom nine out of ten had experiences in on-line buying.
More than 30 per cent of respondents had bought both goods and services over the Internet.
There were discernible differences in the way that men and women behaved on line.
Men focus more on selection, the possibilities of comparing goods, low prices, and wideness of the selection.
Women put more value on being able to make choices according to one's own pace, without check-out queues. Women also tended to look for special offers.
Customers are most likely to come back if the experience is easy and effortless.
How a product is displayed is important in online shopping, but it is also challenging, Poutanen emphasises. Online shops do not offer the retailer the same possibilities as a shop.
"However, on the Internet, products can be shown in the environment in which they are used."
Furthermore nothing prevents a retailer from showing online how many sections and pockets a bag or case has.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.4.2008
KRISTIINA YLI-KOVERO / Helsingin Sanomat
kristiina.yli-kovero@hs.fi
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| 8.4.2008 - THIS WEEK |
 Online shopping grows in popularity |
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