Germans’ purchasing behaviour on the Internet

The stereotype that ‘women love to shop and men hate it’ does not seem to apply (any more) in the online world. According to the study, 46 percent of men indicated that they had made at least one online purchase in the preceding month. Among women, it was only 36 percent. However, a closer look into the shopping baskets indicates an adherence to traditional roles. Men continue to buy more technical devices, women tend to order more clothing and shoes as well as cosmetics and jewellery.

Good-mood shopping

Customers’ frame of mind has an impact on their shopping behaviour. Seventy-four percent of Germans are triggered by their mood to make an impulse purchase via the Internet – the younger customers more than the older ones. For Germans, it´s not the classic ‘comfort shopping’ impulse which prompts them to make a spontaneous purchase, but rather the wish to reward themselves and put themselves in a good mood. They predominantly buy products that people love to browse: clothing, shoes, entertainment, but also perfume and cosmetics. Women are more susceptible to making spontaneous online purchases than men.

Honesty is the best policy

Are price and speed everything? Not always. Honest information on deliveries – such as detailed delivery info and punctuality – is the most essential service when it comes to buying consumer technology. For Germans it´s substantially more important than same-day delivery, for example.

Young people purchase furniture online

Going to the nearest home store to buy a new sofa or washing machine is a thing of the past. More than thirty-three percent of German shoppers prefer to use their smartphones or laptops to track down their new furniture online. Nowadays, particularly young couples and families purchase their furniture online. More than half of the interviewees use the Internet as a source of inspiration and 43 percent use it to find the best price. Search engines may be the most popular source of information when buying furniture, but according to the latest survey, online mail-order generalists still rank second when customers gather information.

Women are more demanding

Women are more demanding than men when it comes to purchasing criteria for home furnishings, especially concerning appearance, cleaning and sustainability. More than 42 percent of female interviewees regard the set-up and connection of new appliances, in particular, to be indispensable. Among men, only 34 percent deem this service vital.

Here´s a summary of the study’s further results:

• Discounts lure customers to the Internet. However, spontaneous online purchases can also be stimulated by external factors: vouchers work, as do minimum order values for free delivery.

• Checkout time! But how to pay? Invoices and PayPal are preferred payment options on the Internet, whereas women often opt for invoices for security reasons while men prefer to use PayPal due to the convenience. Younger people also use direct debit or immediate transfer. For them, security is not a top priority and they are more open-minded with regard to digital payment options.
• Specialist dealer vs. mail-order generalist retailers: 1:1. The data shows that customers are now as content to buy consumer electronics or household appliances from a specialist online retailer as they are from an online mail-order generalist.
• Traditional media are out: about half of all Germans (48 percent) use and buy digital content – first and foremost in the form of pay-TV subscriptions, buying/leasing music, and streaming movies and series.
• ‘Intelligent’ loudspeakers are booming: smartspeakers and devices relying on Artificial Intelligence (Google Home, for example) are on-trend products, especially among young couples and families.
• All answers clearly indicated that despite far greater high-street shopping opportunities, urban dwellers (in towns bigger than 100,000 inhabitants) shop online more often than their rural counterparts