GWI: 2014 Q2 Global E-commerce Report

199IT original compilation

Report Introduction

GWI Commerce is the latest online shopping and other commercial behavior index on different devices around the world provided by GlobalWebIndex. Every year, GWI interviews more than 170,000 netizens in 32 markets to study digital consumers. The report provides the following content:

• the role of desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones and tablets in the online shopping process;
• Popularity of different categories of online shopping;
• The nature of consumers’ online shopping;
• The importance of opinion leaders and commentators.

Mobile and tablet e-commerce on the rise

66% of Internet users aged 16 to 24 shop online every month. Nearly one billion people use e-commerce in the 32 countries surveyed by GWI, up 52% ​​from 2011, proving the vitality of e-commerce around the world. At this rate, this number will exceed 1.5 billion by 2018.

Desktops and laptops are still the primary devices used for online shopping (57%), followed by mobile phones (26%) and tablets (12%). However, mobile phones and tablets have shown the fastest growth rates, increasing by 25% and 54% respectively since the end of 2012.

Multi-device commerce has gone mainstream: more than a quarter of people shop online using both a desktop or laptop and a phone or tablet.

Amazon and eBay global audience

Amazon has global reach: just under 50% of global internet users aged 16 to 24 have visited the site in the last month.
North America is the most likely to use Amazon at all (73%), with the UK (77%), Germany (76%) and the US (75%) being the largest individual markets.

However, in terms of user numbers, more people visit from China each month than from the U.S. India, Brazil and Indonesia are also major markets for Amazon, a trend that is often overlooked because a large number of Internet users use virtual private networks or proxy servers.

In the first quarter of 2014, 36% of Internet users aged 16 to 24 visited eBay, with Europe and North America having the highest visit rates at 47% and 44% respectively, but all regions surveyed had a visit rate higher than one quarter. The U.S. monthly visit rate (44%) lags behind countries such as Germany (73%), India (64%) and the UK (63%).

China dominates all devices

In China, 82% of Internet users aged 16 to 24 shop online every month, about 380 million people. In terms of the total number of audiences, China, the United States, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and South Korea are in the top ten e-commerce markets.

China leads across all devices: 76% of Internet users shop online via desktop or laptop, 60% use mobile phones, and 25% use tablets.

In terms of desktop or laptop, mature internet countries besides China include Germany (69%), the UK (68%) and the US (62%). However, the situation is quite different with mobile phones, with the fastest growing countries showing more prominent performance (e.g., Turkey has 36% of people using mobile phones for shopping, Thailand has 35%, and Indonesia has 32%).

Devices used for online shopping in different countries

Along with “showrooming” (the internet-specific term for seeing products in stores and then searching online for the lowest price), clothes, shoes, gifts and books are the most popular online purchases. This trend is present in all GWI countries, but in the case of clothes, it is most prevalent in mature markets like Sweden, the UK, Germany and the US; and least so in countries like Turkey, the Philippines, the UAE, South Africa and Russia; Saudi Arabia is the only country without showrooming.

Mobile is the most important tool for searching for products, reflecting the importance of “reverse showrooming” (where consumers first search, browse and research a product online before purchasing it in a physical store). This behavior is more common in mature markets, such as Japan, Canada and the United States.

“Showrooming” is the most popular among young people, and the “anti-showrooming” orientation is directly consistent with age, indicating that the older group still has a certain resistance to online shopping compared to the younger group.

Search engine usage increases with age

When online consumers search for information about brands, products or services, search engines are the first choice. Globally, 56% of online consumers say they use search engines for research purposes, with this behavior highest in Germany at 72%, Sweden at 65% and Australia at 63%.

The use of search engines increases with age. Only 53% of netizens aged 16 to 24 use search engines, while 63% of netizens aged 55 to 64 use search engines to research products.

Internet users aged 16 to 24 use more resources such as blogs, applications, social network updates, videos, and content websites. In a sense, older consumers are obsessed with traditional search resources, while young people are more willing to use new channels.

Download report: GWI_Commerce_Summary_Q2_2014

199IT original compilation Translator: Sun Ying