Jan 2013This is the sixth consecutive year that PwC has published a study of online shoppers, and our second truly global survey.
Below are some highlights from this year’s report.
Global
- 59% of respondents follow brands or retailers on social media, compared to 49% last year;
- 27% of respondents discovered brands through social media, compared to 17% last year;
- Fully 49% of our survey sample said they use social media every day, an increase of 14% over last year;
- In China (56%) and the U.S. (52%), more than half of shoppers are sometimes bypassing retailers and going directly to brands’ sites;
- Just 17% of the original pool of internet users we contacted said they shop online less than once per year; in other words, the vast majority of internet users have expanded their online activities to shopping; and
- A vast majority of online shoppers -- even the prolific ones -- narrow their preferred online retail destinations to five or less.
China
- Chinese shoppers are much more likely to use smartphones and tablets to shop online than global counterparts. 24% of Chinese online consumers think they will use tablets or smartphones more in the next twelve months to shop, more than twice the global average of 11%;
- In China, 58% of our survey respondents shopped at least once a week, compared to 29% of the global sample;
- Compared to their global peers, Chinese shoppers are also more actively engaged with social media: 57% of them say they’re following their favorite brands or retailers on social media, compared to 38% of the global sample.
