British consumers are distracted by online shopping approximately 604 times a year, according to a study from Give as you Live
New research from the shopping and price comparison site, which surveyed 4,234 UK shoppers in November 2014, revealed fashion websites are most popular with 42% of participants citing these as a distraction, followed by travel websites and gaming sites on 28% and 25% respectively.
Brits are spending 71 hours annually browsing services and products on the web, with direct email marketing found to be the key trigger over online advertising and social media.
The research also found an element of remorse with this behaviour, with one in three shoppers regretting clicking on shopping links or forgetting why they clicked on them in the first place.
Festive Season
Head of consumer insights at Give as you Live, Steff Lewis, remarked that people are easily distracted by enticing online shopping links, especially at this time of the year.
“With the amount of time consumers spend in front of screens, it’s easy to see how people get distracted, particularly during the festive season.”
Lewis also expressed astonishment at the predominant source of online shopping distractions, considering the increasing influence of social media in the lives of consumers.
“We’re also surprised to see that direct email marketing is the most distracting to consumers over social media posts and advertisements, given the amount of marketing emails we all receive day-to-day and the dominance of social media particularly in our everyday lives.
“But it’s at least good news for marketers and communications teams running these websites. These statistics only represent what we’re conscious of doing, and we suspect there’s a lot more online shopping happening than people realise.”