According to Deloitte “desktop/laptops is still the go to method for online spending. In addition, Back in September, research firm First Insight claimed that 71% of Millennials visit multiple brick-and-mortar stores to find the best deals, compared to just 57% of baby boomers. And back in June, CouponFollow found that 76% of Millennials “browse the internet before buying anything.” Of those, [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]67% buy the product from a brick-and-mortar store, while just 33% make the purchase online.[/inlinetweet]
[pullquote]The Deloitte study also found that the most use smartphones is for price comparisons not for actual purchasing of products. [/pullquote]
So what’s going on here? Well, first there is a lot of hype around “mobile” and eCommerce. Sure eCommerce sales were up during November but you have to look at eCommerce as a percent of total sales not for just one month. Second, did anyone think that one of the reasons people order online is because of the past news reports of the crowds at store openings on Black Friday? Now that Black Friday has morphed from a day to a month you’re likely to see more shoppers in stores.
Finally, there is shipping. Complaints with the Post Office are everywhere and even UPS is having trouble keeping up with all the packages.
Remember that journalists are NOT business people. They are going to write headlines to get you to click but as a marketer you should challenge weak assumptions.