What Do People Buy Online?

We can be safe to assume that people buy online. That might sound like an odd statement but before anyone sells something, it is usually a good idea to see if people are actually buying using the selling tool that you chose.

More than likely we have all bought something online. But as you would rightly guess, people buy different amounts online than other things. Books is a large industry that sells lots online. Proven with Amazon right? However:

Amazon lost money on each product they sold to first get customer trust knowing that other (different) products in the future would be bought from the same customer
They don't make money on the best sellers, they make money on the long-tail- a constant handful of sales on multiple amount of items

Toys and games are the 2 biggest non-essential industries online.

Insider Intelligence provided us with some ideas of what people buy online (first 5 tips, the rest was found and re-edited). Now, the sample of people might not be your audience and selling habits change over time. So know your audience first and then see what they are already buying. Most of the time they will tell you what they would like.

Anyway here's the stats

Clothing is the top category across age and gender. More than half of respondents in each group reported buying clothing online at least once in the past month. In eight of the past 10 quarterly surveys, shoppers ages 35 to 54 have been the demographic most likely to buy clothing online (possibly a greater disposable income and the fact that many are also buying for children and spouses).

Different ages buy different items at different time of their life (such as accessories, home furniture, and computers/computer accessories) are purchased at higher rates by consumers ages 18 to 34).

Baby boomers prioritize pharmacy/health products and pet supplies in their top 10 purchases

Millennials are most likely to buy groceries online multiple times a week. Top groceries that were bought online with ground beef, chicken breast and berries being the most bought in the US

Gen Zers may be setting beauty trends on TikTok, but millennials are buying more of the actual products—and more often

People find products and brands directly, search second, social third

Second-hand buying (C2C) is growing and is worth $161 billion as of 2023

81% is the shopping cart abandon rate- average, across all markets. Shipping fees are the one of the main reasons followed by taxes, additional fees and account creation.

Clothing, Shoes, Jewellery & Watches are the most frequently purchased product category on Amazon (48%), followed by Beauty & Personal Care (42%) and Home & Kitchen (34%). Travel espcially flights, hotel reservations, and travel-related services. these then kick into last minute buying preparations. Toys and DIY are also top sellers online.

76% of shoppers on Amazon purchase private label products compared to brand name products

Worldwide the most bought online products are: fashion, electronics, toys, hobbies, DIY, furniture, health/ beauty

Shoppers, especially the younger generation, are taking a hybrid approach when discovering, evaluating, and buying products. They can do their initial research in-store and buy online, or search online and buy products in-person

Social selling with become a $1 trillion business by 2026- a lot of people will do their buying through social.

Can we look to wholesalers and figure out what people buy online?

Actually we can. The thought is if online retailers buy from a wholesaler, that wholesaler would give stats? And this is what AliExpress has done. A great website which has made the parent company Alibaba more accessable. Most online sellers, espcially Amazon sellers use AliExpress. AliExpress also released a bunch of data. this is from PrNewsWire.

In Europe the highest rates of online shopping were in Germany (96%) and Spain (95%), followed by a still very popular 90% among UK consumers

The top 5 categories:

Clothing, underwear, sleepwear & shoes
Beauty & health
Toys & hobbies
Sports & Entertainment
Phones & Telecommunications

And where do customers like to buy- the top 5:

Online marketplaces
Retailer website
Retailer mobile app
Second hand platforms
Social media shops

As you can see the stats match up with both. People like to check out in store and then buy online. maybe with Metaverse that might change. Social selling is a very large opportunity and so is C2C selling- especially with digital passports and blockchain/ NTFs.

Check out more online eProduct selling articles on the Jasonera blog here.