Emma Pawling /
Marketing Delivery Manager
As we move away from the first quarter of the year, now is the perfect time to reflect – so what better way to do that than with some incredible statistics? And let’s be honest, who doesn’t enjoy a good stat or two?
Instagram now has over 1million active advertisers
The quick-photo app has just announced it has nearly doubled its number of monthly active advertisers over the last six months – up from 500,000 back in September to over 1million in March. There are also now more businesses taking to Instagram, with more than 8million holding a profile with the majority coming from the US, Russia and the UK.
Online retail sales are up 15%
The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index have shown that UK online sales were up by 15% year-on-year in February. While that makes for great reading for online stores, the growth of smartphone sales has seen an alarming decline, almost halving from 96% in February last year to just 57% in February 2017.
74% of shoppers will abandon their online baskets
This may seem strangely high to you, but survey data from SaleCycle has found that 74% of online retail visitors will abandon items added to their cart without following through on a purchase. Health and beauty currently has the lowest abandonment rate at 68%, with consumer electricals highest on 79%.
Among some of the other more popular reasons for abandoning cart items, 34% of consumers said they were often ‘just browsing’ whilst 23% said they had an issue with delivery or shipping requirements.
8 out of 10 shoppers will avoid retailers after a bad returns experience
Retailers who fail to support consumers with a quick and easy returns policy risk losing 80% of their customer base, according to Swedish e-commerce company Klarna.
In a survey of 2,000 UK consumers, 83% of online shoppers stated that they would never go back to use a store that had previously given them a poor returns experience. These results go hand in hand with the belief of most UK retailers, as 77% feel they need to improve their returns service and capabilities.
Older shoppers fear high street revolution
78% of shoppers over the age of 55 are apprehensive about new retail technology taking over high street stores, including advances in automation, artificial intelligence and robotics.
In direct contrast, shoppers aged between 16 and 24 are happy with the idea of addition technologies entering stores.
Video content views are up by 26%
Our last statistic relates to a growing trend from 2016 that has continued to develop in 2017. The Video Monetisation Report by FreeWheel has revealed that 2016 saw video content views rose by 26% from the previous year, with ad views also up by 24%. These figures were aided by significant world events like the Rio Olympics and the US Presidential Election, which boosted the popularity of video content in the US and abroad.
In the UK and Europe, it was news and sport content that enjoyed the most growth, with 93% of ad views being based on this topic compared to just 43% in the US.
Are you shocked by any of these statistics? Concerned your business could be left behind in 2017? Don’t panic, our experts at b4b are here to help! Why not give us a call tiday and arrange a meeting with our digital marketing specialists? You can contact us on 01202 684400.
