Posted by Janet Meiners

The fun of shopping online has worn off. Online megamall iStorez studied how people feel about shopping online. Only 1 in 10 Americans now shop just ‘for the fun of it,’ and the majority want improvements.

Here are some more findings:

• 78% of younger shoppers say they think online shopping has room for improvement.
• 55% find online shopping more convenient than shopping in stores
• 36% find greater financial rewards (look online to get bargains)
• 35% find more variety offline (even though there is much more variety online)
• The woman who has the most admired fashion sense in politics right now is former vice president candidate Sarah Palin. That came at a price though – she famously $150,000 on her wardrobe.

The study, conducted by Kelton Research, might mean that online shopping may slow down, just as people are spending less in stores. Anand Jagannathan, CEO of iStorez points out: “The truth is that the online shopping experience hasn’t changed much in the last decade. If shoppers are telling us that online shopping offers less variety than real-world malls, then we need to listen hard and make some major changes.” I suppose that means offer more selection?

What do people want? First, 55% say they shop online for the convenience of it. But they want retailers to streamline and simplify the process. To that I’d add that shopping for clothes online that you haven’t tried can take a long time. It’s a pain to return things that don’t fit (unless they work with their offline store to make it easier).

iStorez carries 18 million products from 500 retailers. Customers can create a own personal mall based on their style and favorite stores.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About the Author: Janet Meiners always wanted to be a reporter but prefers the immediacy of blogging. Known as Newspapergrl, she has freelanced for newspapers, City Search, and business magazines. She reports on internet marketing and online trends. MarketingPilgrim posts