Video: Four retail trends that are changing the way we shop
Our shopping habits are changing. Researching online for the product you want and then buying offline is becoming the new norm.
Consumers have more tools than ever to conduct research online before heading into a store -- and retailers that leverage their online visibility will be more likely to win over the final sale.
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Salesforce has analyzed the activity of over 500 million global shoppers to identify trends and changes in overall shopping activity. It looked at transactions from 843 digital commerce sites across 36 countries and 1.4 billion visits to pages.
In its latest shopping index report[2], the company identified four major findings including social media's impact -- or lack of -- on e-commerce.
Despite the industry hype around social media, it actually had an insignificant impact on traffic so far. The growth of shoppers using social media channels has been essentially flat, with only 4.7 percent of traffic share and 2 percent of all orders.
(Image: Salesforce)
Traffic from mobile devices continues to grow year on year. However, visits from computers and tablets declined year over year. E-commerce orders have grown, too, with mobile conversion rates increasing at 14 percent, and with orders from mobile phones accounting for 41 percent of all e-commerce transactions.
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According to the index, digital commerce increased revenue for retailers by 15 percent over the previous year, thanks to a 9-percent increase in traffic and a 6-percent increase in shopper spend per visit.
This quarter showed