Shipping charges, spam email and having to provide a credit card number online top the list of Internet frustrations, according to the latest Consumer Internet Barometer.
This quarterly measure of who's doing what on the Internet is produced by NFO WorldGroup and The Conference Board.
About 20 percent of consumers say that shipping charges are the most frustrating aspect of shopping online. Nineteen percent say that spam is the most annoying. More than 15 percent say that the inability to try clothes on is most aggravating. About 13 percent claim that having to give out a credit card number online is the most frustrating aspect of online shopping.
But consumers cite many advantages to shopping online, such as the ability to shop around the clock, availability of products, ease of product/pricing comparisons and never having to leave home.
The survey finds that men are more likely to hunt for bargains than women. Nearly 50 percent of male online shoppers are bargain hunters, compared with less than 40 percent of women. Also, more men than women fault the online shopping experience because they can't touch or feel what they're buying.
"Consumers' online shopping habits are a byproduct of time, convenience and cost," says Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "In a world where the doors never close, bargain hunting is the No. 1 sport. Shipping costs, meanwhile, are the bargain hunters' foe."
Bargains are what drive the largest percentage of online purchases, says Franco: "Among online consumers who made a purchase in the past three months, the greatest number did so because they found a better deal online than in a store." Nearly 45 percent of online shoppers are "bargain" shoppers.
A distant second to the bargain hunter—representing about 16 percent of all Internet shoppers—is the "traditional" shopper, who prefers to shop in a store but is not above making online purchases.
The "last resort" shopper represents 14 percent of Internet consumers. Purchases among this group are determined by product availability. The "hurried" shopper—about 13 percent of online consumers—is likely to click and buy when there is no time to shop in the store. The "die hard" Internet shopper—about 12 percent of online consumers—simply prefers to shop online.
The survey finds that among men, the ability to compare prices and products is the No. 1 benefit of online shopping. While more than 25 percent of men claim this is the most valuable aspect of online shopping, less than 16 percent of women share this opinion.
Among women, nearly 27 percent claim the ability to shop around the clock is the No. 1 benefit of online shopping, a sentiment shared by 25 percent of men. More than 20 percent of women rate the inability to try on clothing as the top frustration of shopping online. Among men, less than 11 percent feel the same. Shipping charges top the male list of online shopping frustrations, while—at fewer than 20 percent—it placed second on women's lists.