A whopping three-quarters (75 percent) of consumers say they are inspired to purchase by image and video content seen online, according to new research from AI and visual commerce firm ViSenze—underscoring the importance for brands to understand how consumers are motivated by visual content and how they can utilize it to drive sales.
The firm recently announced the findings from its recent study, 2017 Visual Commerce Report: Retail, analyzing how content across the visual web drives online shoppers to engage and purchase products.
“Social media, as well as the increasing amount of visual content available online, influences consumer purchase behavior more every day,” said Oliver Tan, CEO and co-founder of ViSenze, in a news release.
Key findings from the study include:
- More than half of consumers surveyed prefer online shopping versus in-store shopping.
- 52 percent cited they often experience difficulty finding products they seek online.
- 68 percent are open to recommendations for alternative items if the product they are interested in is out of stock or temporarily unavailable.
Avoiding cart abandonment
These data suggest that while many customers are inspired to purchase items seen online, the discovery process is often challenging and can result in shopper frustration, confusion, and abandoned sales. This presents an opportunity for brands to implement new tools that enable visual commerce and create a seamless path to purchase from the moment of discovery.
The study also uncovered key social platform data:
- 44 percent of consumers use social media more than five times a day.
- One third of purchases begin on social platforms each month.
- Facebook ranked the most inspiring platform for a buying decision, followed by Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat, which ranked last with only two percent of respondents citing it as a platform from which they might initiate a purchase.
Simplifying the purchase process
Other notable stats from the survey suggest a need for a more cohesive method for purchasing from social media platforms, and that video content is quickly becoming a significant monetization opportunity:
- 80 percent of respondents have never made a purchase from a buy button.
- Almost half of respondents watch video content on retailers’ websites while shopping.
“Our report confirmed for us that retailers must revamp the way their products are discovered online in order to streamline the path to purchase,” Tan added. “We have watched as the demand for visual search has grown, and ensuring that every product can be found, referenced, and understood based on visual attributes is the only way to capitalize on these moments of inspiration happening at any time during the customer journey.”
ViSenze surveyed over 1,000 people in the U.S. over the age of 18. Of the respondents, 37 percent were over 50 years of age, the demographic holding the highest spending power in the U.S. today.
