Shoppers leave empty-handed and buy goods at home

A quarter of shoppers in the UK and America leave high street stores empty-handed and choose to complete their purchases at home according to a recent survey; internet users around the globe also searched for information about online retailers more frequently than high street stores.

A quarter of shoppers leave high street stores empty handed and purchase goods on the internet instead, according to a report released July 30 by retail consultancies Envirosell and RichRelevance.

The survey conducted amongst shoppers in New York and London found that almost half of all shoppers leaving stores did so without having purchased anything, but a quarter of those leaving without shopping intended to go home and complete their purchases on the internet. The survey also found that consumers in New York were also more likely than their British counterparts to compare prices of goods online first before visiting the store.

Increasing numbers of people are choosing to do their shopping online and, according to statistics from market monitoring group Hitwise, internet users across the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and America searched for information about online retailers more often than they searched for information about high street stores.

The most searched for term relating to shopping and retail in the US in the four weeks ending July 17 was online marketplace and postings site Craigslist, followed by auction site eBay in second and movie site Netflix in third, while hypermarket chain Wal-Mart came fourth, one place above online retailer Amazon.

In the UK, eBay and Amazon dominated the top two spots in the week ending July 24. During the same period online retailers, rather than high street stores, were also popular search items in Asia and Oceania. Amazon and Amazon Japan were the top two most searched for terms related to retail in Hong Kong, and in Australia online retail sites eBay, eBay Australia and Amazon were also searched for more often than any high street stores.