If you’re a retail brand that sells your products and services online, you must regularly keep up with the current market trends to capture the attention of your target audience effectively. Salsify surveyed 2,700 shoppers across the UK and the US to compile its 2024 consumer research report. Let’s look at the findings.
The modern buying journey covers three main steps, awareness, consideration and decision.
Stage one: awareness
This first step of the journey is all about how consumers discover your brand and its products. Shoppers are present at a wide range of channels during the discovery phase of the journey, both online and offline.
For offline sources, shoppers discover new products and brands in physical retail stores (57%), and through recommendations from friends and family (42%).
As for online channels, the below graphic shows the most common sources:
Less common sources that are still important to note are product review websites (11%), online forums such as Reddit (10%) and blogs (3%).
These channels allow users to discover brands and products organically, although most of them also provide opportunities for brands to get in front of consumers through paid advertisements. Here are the types of ads that shoppers most commonly discover new products and brands from:
You need to know where your consumers are and ensure that your brand is present in these spaces. Consistency is key throughout the discovery phase of the buying journey – you should be providing engaging and valuable content at every possible touch point. Simply shoving your brand’s logo in the face of consumers isn’t enough to entice them in, users want brands to prove their worth very early on in the journey, otherwise they have little incentive to investigate further into your offerings.
Any business selling online knows how important SEO is for your digital strategy. The foundation of SEO is to improve discoverability for relevant searches, pushing your listings higher up in the SERPs and getting in front of prospective customers as early as possible.
Surprisingly, the biggest proportion of shoppers will typically scroll up to page three in the SERPs before clicking through to a product page. One in four will scroll up to page five and one in ten may even scroll up to page ten before selecting a link to explore further.
Many keywords are very competitive, and if your business operates within a cutthroat market with some ambitious competitors to take over, reaching the top of page one is no easy feat. The good news is that consumers seem willing to scroll further through the SERPs if they haven’t yet found a listing that piques their interest.
The information a brand can display in the SERPs is limited. If your product is all-singing-all-dancing, it’s hard to convey that with limited pixels for your title and description and a single image.
Over three-quarters of shoppers look for high-quality product images when choosing a product from the SERPs. Pricing and discounts are equally important factors, with customer ratings following close behind. Brands need to capture the shopper’s attention from the offset with eye-catching titles, positive customer ratings and high-quality imagery to coax them into clicking your link and reading further into the product.
SEO can help you get in the right place, but the shopper’s first impression is what nurtures the sale.
Stage two: consideration
The consideration stage of the buying journey is where shoppers take the time to research a new brand or product before making a purchase. They’ve likely already seen the product page itself, or perhaps they’ve seen the product advertised, but now it’s time to find out if it’s really as good as it seems.
Two-thirds (66%) of shoppers head to a search engine to research a new product or brand when considering a purchase. What comes up in the SERPs when searching for a specific brand or branded product?
- The brand’s website
- Reviews
- The brand’s social media accounts
- The brand’s products on other marketplaces, like Amazon
- Mentions of the brand and other PR activities
All of these results will help shape the shopper’s perception of your brand, so it’s important to put the time, effort and resources into making sure this is a positive reflection of your brand and its values. It can be worth searching for your brand and some of your products to see what comes up. Try to look at the results with a clean slate, pretending you have little to no prior knowledge of your brand and products. This will help you identify any areas that could be improved.
Most shoppers will spend less than an hour researching a new product before purchasing. This is where prompts from the brand like abandoned cart emails or the offer of a small discount can help seal the deal.
Throughout the pandemic, shoppers flocked to online sources for purchasing due to having little other option. Now that the world has reopened and storefronts are almost as they were five years ago, many consumers have a split preference, claiming that they shop in physical stores and online, depending on their needs at the time.
Despite physical shopping becoming more popular again in recent years, 54% of shoppers have used a smartphone to search for more information whilst shopping in a physical store, so online presence remains vital for any brand.
Convenience is the biggest factor that pushes consumers to shop online, alongside finding better deals online than in physical stores.
36% of consumers prefer to shop online to avoid crowds, 29% like that online shopping provides an easier way to compare products before buying, 26% prefer the valuable product content that is available online, and 9% value personalised product recommendations which you just can’t get in a physical store.
Shoppers are regularly online, so it’s much easier to capture your target audience during the early stages of their buying journey. One-quarter (25%) of consumers shop online around once per week, and one in ten (10%) shop online every day.
Stage three: decision
So the consumer has found your brand or product, and they’ve conducted research to determine whether or not they’ll be making a purchase. But what is it that makes shoppers complete a purchase?
- 79% say that the pricing of the product and any available discounts are the deciding factor
- 78% claim that the product images and descriptions are the most important aspect that sways their decision to purchase
- 72% rely on reviews and ratings of the product and brand to determine their purchase decision
Just as easily as consumers can be swayed towards purchasing a product online, they can also be deterred.
Price is the biggest factor that influences purchasing decisions, with competitive prices and good value for money often pushing consumers towards purchasing, and higher prices being the largest deterrent against purchasing. 39% of consumers have increased their focus on budget-friendly options within the last year.
Even when you can convince a consumer to follow through with a purchase, it doesn’t mean they’re going to be satisfied when the product arrives. 45% of shoppers have returned an item due to incorrect product content. This could be that the physical product looks nothing like the images displayed online or nothing like it was described. The way you display your products online needs to be captivating for the consumer as this is one of the main ways that you can pull them in initially, but you must keep the display of the product as true to the real thing as possible. Don’t lie or oversell your product just to secure a sale, as a sale is useless if the shopper simply returns it once it has arrived.
Brand trust is a key factor in influencing purchasing decisions.
The way shoppers trust is multifaceted and brands need to capture the complex interplay of reputation, reviews, pricing and quality of products to appease them. Less prevalent factors that help build trust are responsive and helpful customer service (3%) and a transparent and friendly customer return policy (3%). Both of these aspects contribute to the overall customer experience, so although consumers seem to prioritise them less when it comes to trusting a brand, they’re still important areas to streamline.
Each generation shows a notable concern for brand trust, with Gen Z being the most prevalent. No matter what age your target audience is, trust is always a vital feeling to nurture.
Consumers who trust a brand are much more likely to remain loyal to that brand. Loyalty is incredibly valuable in the e-commerce industry, and understanding what your consumers want, need and prefer can help you retain them for future sales. The main factors that contribute to customer loyalty are:
- Product quality (73%)
- Value for money (52%)
- Positive customer service (49%)
- Brand reputation and trust (44%)
- Ease of shopping experience (41%)
- Loyalty programs and rewards (29%)
- Ethics and sustainability practices (22%)
2024 consumer trends
Understanding where consumers are at each stage of the buying journey and what they need is only part of the process. To captivate consumers and prove the value of your brand over others, you need to be tapping into current trends.
The economy
In 2024, it’s no secret that the economic climate is uncomfortable for many. Only 18% of shoppers say that they’re not making any changes to their shopping habits due to the current economy, so a whopping 82% will be, whether that’s big changes or small tweaks to their habits.
Changes that a smaller proportion of consumers will be making are shopping more online for convenience (23%), delaying or postponing purchases (22%) and reducing the frequency of their shopping trips to save on expenses (19%).
The time that consumers spend in front of brands is going to decrease, and they’ll be less willing to spend, so brands need to take any opportunity that they have to prove to consumers why they need to buy their products and what value the brand can provide to them. This can be achieved through high-quality images, captivating titles and descriptions, and favoured policies. Remember to keep it truthful – when consumers are less willing to spend as it is, being tricked into buying a less-than-ideal product by a brand will cause more harm than good in the long run.
Ethics and sustainability
The priority that shoppers put on brands that showcase desirable ethics and sustainability practices is continually increasing, with nearly three-quarters (72%) of consumers currently favouring these brands. The main factors that consumers want to see are:
- Eco-friendly packaging (34%)
- Fair labour practices (27%)
- Ethical sourcing (23%)
- Zero waste initiatives (22%)
- Animal welfare commitments (22%)
- Fair-trade practices (22%)
- Transparency and accountability (21%)
- Renewable energy usage (20%)
- Carbon neutrality (19%)
Making ethical and sustainable changes can be costly, but the payoff after can be worth your while. Never claim to meet any of these sustainability goals without being able to prove your efforts, as greenwashing claims are rampant in today’s day and age, and being caught out lying about ethical practices is worse for your reputation than not doing them at all.
Social media
Social media remains a hot spot for brands and shows no signs of slowing in 2024:
- 34% of shoppers have recently bought a product from a social media platform
- 21% of shoppers have recently bought a product because a social media influencer recommended it
- 17% of shoppers have recently bought a product because it was trending on social media
If you’re unsure of the best way to streamline your social media strategy in 2024, check out our guide here.
AI
Currently, shoppers don’t seem to be overwhelmingly interested in AI, but as more e-commerce tools begin to incorporate AI abilities and it becomes more commonplace, this will likely change.
The types of AI that your brand can incorporate will depend on your business model, but here are the features that shoppers have the most interest in seeing:
To conclude…
- SEO still matters, and first impressions online are important
- Shoppers want to be engaged – brands must provide valuable content at every touch point to enhance the buying journey
- Be consistent in all areas of your online presence
- Align with emerging trends – respond to economic shifts, adopt sustainable practices and embrace technological advances
- Prove the worth of your products – be transparent about price and shipping details, emphasise the benefits, provide detailed product comparisons and shout about your positive reviews and ratings
In this ever-changing industry, keeping up with the times can be daunting. If you need help with your SEO strategy and online presence, contact us!
Download the full Salsify report here.
