Ninety-five percent of e-commerce purchases are still taking place in the home, according to a new global survey commissioned by WorldPay. But those purchases are being made all over the house, with three percent of respondents admitting to having made online purchases in the bathroom and two percent in the garage/shed.
The most common place to conduct at-home online shopping was the living room, mentioned by 54 percent, followed by the bedroom (43 percent), the study (35 percent), the dining room (14 percent), and the kitchen (10 percent).
The report also pointed to the challenges of keeping those at-home shoppers engaged. Of those surveyed, 46 percent indicated they watch TV while they shop online, with 42 percent listening to music, 21 percent the radio, 29 percent chatting to family or friends, and 31 percent using social networking sites during the purchasing process.
Still, the report found instances of shopping with mobile devices rising, particularly among 'heavy spenders' — those who have spent 30 percent of their disposable income online in the past year. (The average was 23 percent.)
Globally, 55 percent of heavy spenders have used a smartphone and 67 percent a tablet in the last three months to buy online. Among overall U.S. respondents, 15 percent have used a smartphone and 9 percent a tablet to make a purchase with 27 percent planning on using use a smartphone or tablet to shop in the next 12 months
Other findings:
- U.S. respondents made three percent of their online purchases via mobile against a global average of 2.5 percent.
- In the U.S., of those consumers that buy using a mobile device, 53 percent have purchased clothes, 46 percent books and 42 percent DVDs/video games in the last three months.
- U.S. respondents are shopping an online an average of 5.4 hours per month.
Some 19,000 consumers and 153 senior decision makers took part in the research, which investigates the shopping habits of people in 15 countries, including the U.K., U.S., China, Germany, Spain and India.