Out of the total online shoppers surveyed in the US, 10 per cent have used augmented reality (AR) apps for online shopping, e.g. virtually trying on clothing, says a recent study. About 67 per cent of these shoppers would never again shop in-store for clothes if AR made it possible to do so. Close to 66 per cent make an online purchase at least once a month.

Over half (52 per cent) of e-commerce shoppers spend as much, or more, of their dollars online than in-store, as per the 2018 Online Shopping and Technology Trends Survey by Adtaxi, a digital marketing agency in the US. Twenty-seven per cent respondents own a voice-activated smart device, such as the Amazon Echo or Google Home and 24 per cent have used one to make a purchase.

About 64 per cent of respondents are concerned about a voice-activated smart device threatening their privacy, and 46 per cent of them would not let this concern stop them from purchasing one. The study says that 63 per cent have made an online purchased prompted by seeing a digital ad; most (60 per cent) of those prompted to make an online purchase saw the ad on social media.

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Mobile apps have been used for online shopping by 65 per cent of the respondents, the most popular reason being that mobile apps are easy to use (51 per cent) and save time (19 per cent). Meanwhile, 82 per cent of consumers would not consider receiving texts from brands, even if the ad was personally relevant.

“There is no question that the e-commerce market is exploding, and that consumers are increasingly making purchases online,” said Evan Tennant, national director of e-commerce at Adtaxi. “To meet the increasing demand, the technological landscape is quickly advancing with consumer preferences, and our survey captures a snapshot of the exciting evolution currently reshaping the shopper experience.”
“We now live in an on-demand world, where customers are beginning to favour innovations that make purchases faster, more efficient and pain-free,” Tennant said. “As this survey indicates, technologies like voice-activated devices and AR have gained traction and are on the fringe of becoming mainstream in the next few years—which we anticipate will cause a shift toward consumers shopping more heavily online.”

The study was conducted online using Survey Monkey. One thousand participants were polled, spanning across the US. The demographics of those polled represented a broad range of household income, geographic location, age, and gender, said Adtaxi in a press release.