Compete Blog: It's 10 p.m. Do You Know Where Your Shoppers Are?
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Compete Blog. Compete Inc. is a web analytics company that focuses on understanding how consumers use the internet.
One of the many reasons people love online shopping is the freedom to place orders anytime, anywhere. We've all bought a pair of shoes at 3 a.m. once, right? (Maybe that's just me.)
I was curious to see how many people actually are shopping in the wee hours of the night, and what times of day are most popular for e-commerce. I broke down the day into one-hour segments, and looked at average daily visitation to several major retailers and categories during each hour. While the overall trends were similar across the board, a few interesting patterns emerged.
Visitation to most retail categories peaks in the evening hours, around 8-10 p.m. There is a steady increase throughout the day (from about 9 a.m. on), and it drops off around 11 p.m. The lowest levels occur in the early morning hours -- between 3 and 5 a.m. Though traffic drops dramatically, there are still diehard shoppers at this time of day, proving that the world of online shopping never sleeps. Categories behave differently. For example, Sporting Goods retailers see a concentrated peak around 8 p.m., after fairly low levels throughout the day. Home Improvement sites peak in the morning and remain steady through the afternoon, with an early drop-off at night.
I also looked at four major online retailers -- Amazon, Overstock, Target, and Walmart --and compared their shopping patterns throughout the day. While the lines trend similarly, Amazon and Overstock skew slightly later, with peaks at 8 p.m. Target and Walmart see visitation a bit earlier, with peaks at 7 p.m., and more dramatic drop-offs at night.
Finally, I wanted to see if certain demographics had different visitation patterns. I took the Apparel category and broke out hourly visitation by male and female groups. Both had peaks in the evening around 8 p.m., however, women had more constant visitation throughout the day, as well as a peak in the morning.
Using such insights, apparel retailers could target women during these peak times, or work to draw more men to their sites throughout the day. But knowing when their prime customers are online, retailers could potentially target their online buyers more easily and potentially bring more traffic to their site -- much like many try to do with their in-store buyers during peak times. In the world of email and social media bombardment, retailers have to work harder than ever to stand out from the pack.