The impact of technology on

today’s consumers
Introduction
Consumers’ shopping habits have drastically
changed over the past decade as their choice
of products and methods of purchasing have
increased.
Introduction

The use of digital technology to research,

browse and purchase is now common.
Retailers and service providers need to
embrace this change and evolve with it to
survive.
Introduction

Proactive brands are already providing

innovations to enhance the shopping
experience as customer expectations change.
Such an example are Apple Experience Stores.
Investing in digital technology is becoming a
necessity for any retail brand to survive this
new wave of consumer expectations.
 Access to the internet
Having an internet presence for any business is
essential. Here are just a few reasons why:

Global internet users Well over half the

has now passed the 4 world’s population
billion mark use the internet

People are now Internet speed is

spending more time becoming faster
online with the making accessibility to
average user spending information easy
6 hours per day using
the internet
Digital in 2018 – by Hootsuite
Access to the internet
More people are accessing the internet due to
affordability of devices and are spending a long time
there.
People will spend the equivalent of 1 billion years
online in 2018

This growth is driven by more affordable

smartphones and mobile data plans

Digital in 2018 – by Hootsuite

Digital Devices
There are a lot of internet users world-wide but what
devices are they using to access information? Being
mobile responsive is vital.

Two-thirds More than half

of the world’s 7.6 billion inhabitants of the handsets are smart devices so
now have a smart phone people can also enjoy the internet
wherever they are

Digital in 2018 – by Hootsuite

Social Media
Social media is more than connecting with friends
but has become an essential source of information
for consumers.

Social media is growing with people using the top social

platforms in each country increasing by 1 million new
users every day in 2017 – 11 new users every second

More than 3 billion people use social media each month,

with almost all accessing their chosen platform via a
mobile device

Digital in 2018 – by Hootsuite

What people use online research for
Researching online has become an easy, efficient and
reliable source of information for pre-purchasing.
People go online to:

Look up product information

Read peer reviews

Check and compare prices

Search for deals and promotions

Online video consumption
Online consumption of videos probably has the most
momentum right now with video consumption
growing at a rapid pace.

4x
as many customers would
50%
of internet users look for videos
rather watch a video than related to a product or service before
read about it (Animoto 2015) visiting a store. (Google, 2016)

100M
hours of video are watched
every day on Facebook
(TechCrunch, 2016)
82%
of Twitter users watch
video content on Twitter
(Twitter, 2015)
The Ultimate List of Marketing
Statistics for 2018
 Online video consumption

2/3 2/3
of consumers prefer video of YouTube users watch YouTube on a
under 60 seconds. (Animoto, second screen while watching TV at
2015) home. (Google, 2016)

1B
YouTube has over a billion users,
8 10out of

In an average month 8 out of

almost one-third of all people 10, 18 to 49 year old's watch
on the internet. (YouTube, 2016) YouTube. (Google, 2016)

The Ultimate List of

Marketing Statistics for 2018
Online purchase behaviour
Are the way people make online purchase decisions the same for
everyone? KPMG researched this question and found the following
results:
• Online purchase frequency varies considerably depending on geographic
location. Consumers in Asia, North America and Western Europe are
most likely to shop online, while per capita online purchases in Eastern
Europe and Russia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa are
less frequent.
• Generation X consumers (born between 1966 and 1981) made more
online purchases in 2016 than any other age group, averaging nearly 19
transactions per online shopper per year.
• Baby Boomers shop online just as frequently as the Millennials.
• While men and women shopped at similar frequency, on average, men
spent more per transaction – men spent US$220 vs. US$151 for women
on their most recent purchase.

KPMG – Online Purchase

Behaviour 16 January 2017
Online purchase behaviour

KPMG – Online Purchase

Behaviour 16 January 2017
Online purchase behaviour
Online shopping is gradually changing in terms of the types of
products that are being bought online. Generally, consumers’
purchases have increased for most product categories. This
increase signals a higher willingness to buy new product
categories online, even those more traditionally sold in shops.

Greater options for shipping and delivery have made it easier and
more common to buy bulkier products online – including furniture,
appliances and even vehicles. Products such as books, music,
electronics, accessories and apparel however are the most popular
online categories.

KPMG – Online Purchase

Behaviour 16 January 2017
Online purchase behaviour

Cross-border shopping is on the rise globally, driving international

retail trade. It is also creating a need for renewed tax laws for
importing of goods, seen in Australia with the introduction of GST on
goods purchased overseas.

The tendency to buy internationally is highest among Millennials.

This could mean potential growth for international online shopping
as consumers increasingly seek unique or specialised products
from other countries.
Online purchase behaviour

KPMG – Online Purchase

Behaviour 16 January 2017
 Online purchase behaviour – device preference

Despite the increase in mobile smart phones and

tablets, the majority of consumers still prefer
traditional desktop PCs or laptops when shopping
online. More than half (57 percent) of online
purchasers globally said they prefer to use
desktop PCs or laptops, while 17 percent said
they preferred to use a mobile device and 27
percent had no preference

While mobile may not be the most preferred

online sales channel, over two-thirds of the
consumers said they had used a smartphone for
product research while in a physical shop.
 What consumers buy online

“Today’s consumer no longer goes shopping, but is shopping, all the time
and everywhere. And in a truly global online marketplace, competition is
no longer limited to local shops during regular business hours. Consumers
can easily buy from retailers and manufacturers located anywhere in the
world – or from those with no physical retail locations at all,”

Willy Kruh, Global Chair, Consumer Markets, KPMG International

KPMG – Online Purchase

Behaviour 16 January 2017
 How technology has changed consumer trends
The retail industry is going through a transformation mainly
driven by the influence of digital technology on the shopping
experience.

Consumers are performing shopping-related tasks on their

mobile phones regularly such as research, buying and
comparing prices.
How technology has changed consumer trends

Consumers are using digital technology to

research, browse and purchase. As a result,
clever retailers are implementing new
strategies to attract and retain this omni-
channel shopper. Strategies include responsive
website design, free shipping offers, mobile
alerts and content marketing. Use of these
digital tools has gone from just a few, to
mainstream and essential.
 How technology has changed consumer trends

Customers use mobile technology

while in the store

Social media drives sales, Online reviews impact 67%

particularly for the millennial of respondents’
consumer purchasing decisions
The Ultimate List of
Marketing Statistics for
2018
 How technology has changed consumer trends
For companies who don’t take their online reviews seriously, they are
missing an opportunity. Consumers have almost instant access to a
company’s Facebook, Yelp page or Google reviews, and unless a bad review
is obviously spammy, it’s essentially impossible to have it removed.

In a study from Moz.com, A study by GlobalWebIndex

67% of respondents cited
online reviews as “fairly, very
or absolutely important” to
their online purchasing
decisions.
found that their respondent
base, which numbered
around 170,000 people,
spent 28% of their online
time on social networking
sites.
The Ultimate List of Marketing
Statistics for 2018
Conclusion

Consumer purchase behaviour is changing. How

consumers conduct research, how they
recommend brands, and how they finally decide to
make a purchase is going digital.

This is not a marketing choice anymore. Those

retailers not on board with this – will be the ones
left behind.
References
 Digital in 2018 – by Hootsuite https://hootsuite.com/pages/digital-in-2018
(accessed 13 June 2018)
 The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2018:
https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics (accessed 13 June 2018)
 KPMG – Online Purchase Behaviour 16 January 2017
https://home.kpmg.com/au/en/home/insights/2017/01/online-purchase-
behavior.html (accessed 13 June 2018)
 6 Important Stats on How Consumer Behaviour Has Changed in the Digital
Age http://www.inboundmarketingagents.com/inbound-marketing-agents-
blog/6-important-stats-on-how-consumer-behavior-has-changed-in-the-
digital-age (accessed 13 June 2018)