WebProNews

I’ve always been a cautious shopper, but, depending on the item, a few hours’ worth of research is generally more than enough for me to make up my mind.  Now new data indicates that most people take much longer - and, indeed, are taking increasing amounts of time - to make online purchasing choices.

“Online shoppers . . . are taking more than half a day longer before making a buying decision and completing a transaction, according to a report by ScanAlert, a security-certification company in [the] Bay Area that analyzed 2.6 million online sales executed on 470 Web sites from May 2005 to May 2007,” states CNET’s Miriam Olsson.

“Since May 2005, the average time between a consumer’s first visit to a Web site and an actual purchase increased from 19 to 34 hours, according to the report.  One fourth of the shoppers took more than three days to decide what to buy, and one fifth took more than a week,” she continues.

The sheer number of sales that ScanAlert monitored, in addition to the time span in which the study was conducted, should make this data conclusive.

What’s it mean, then?  You probably already guessed, but online consumers appear to be doing more comparison shopping than ever before; they’re presumably making better choices and saving more money, as well.  Slow and steady wins the race and safeguards the wallet.