Shopping online is becoming more and more common. Around 26 million Spaniards choose this channel three times a month to buy food and clothing, or hire trips, stays and cultural shows. It is one of the conclusions of the 2023 Ecommerce Study published this Wednesday by the advertising, marketing and digital communication association IAB Spain.
In total, 77% of Spanish Internet users use the Internet for this purpose, but women buy more online (80%) than men (70%), while young people between the ages of 16 and 34 remain the group that buy products and services online more frequently. On the other hand, 63% of citizens usually make their purchases in a hybrid way.
Despite the fact that online shopping is convincing more and more consumers, its popularization is being gradual. This study shows that the increase in frequency and average spending grows “slightly” year after year: Spaniards went from buying 2.8 times a month in 2022, to 3.4 times in 2023 and spending 69 euros per month. buy, at 82.
Internet users between the ages of 25 and 34 are the ones who buy more intensively, with a frequency of 5.5 times/month and an average cost of 124 euros, reflects the document.
The normalization of this purchasing system may be due to convenience, the wide offer and price. “But trust is also an important factor for the majority of ‘online’ buyers (75%) and is mainly based on previous experience or secure payment methods,” they explain.
The main devices through which these purchases are made are the computer (77%) and the mobile (65%). 40% of those over 45 decide on the first device, while the use of smartphones stands out more among women and young people. The most purchased categories are fashion 77%, travel and stays (63%), entertainment and culture (62%) and food (58%).
Likewise, the Internet continues to be the main information search channel for nine out of 10 ‘online’ buyers and is maintained compared to 2022 (93%). Sites like Amazon, Ebay or AliExpress continue to be the reference information source for users, since six out of 10 (59%) search for information directly on them.
Another conclusion of the study is that when buying online, consumers follow recommendations from the Internet (60%), from friends, family and acquaintances (56%), from search engines (50%) or from the brand’s website ( 46%). But this year, the increase in the SMS/WhatsApp channel stands out.
The price, the offers, the after-sales service and the shipping times are the main factors for choosing an electronic commerce and the importance that consumers give to the facilities to make returns of their orders is growing.
The “acceptable” waiting time to receive an ‘online’ purchase remains at 3.2 days compared to 2022 and eight out of 10 buyers consider that they should receive their orders within five days.
In addition, 41% of online buyers are aware of the virtual reality service, but only 24% of them have ever used it, especially the youngest.
Lastly, digital industry professionals point out competitive prices, quality, customer service and being able to facilitate returns and exchanges as the “most important” aspects for e-commerce.
In addition, they point out that the traffic they receive comes mainly from search engines (38%) followed by social networks and direct access to the web (34%) and ‘online’ advertising (31%) and six out of each already have or They plan to integrate some live shopping platform, GPT or virtual reality.
