E-commerce is growing thanks to women: study

E-commerce finally took over the decade, but it seems to be picking up on speed in recent years. This is confirmed by a study by Sapio Research for the global fraud protection firm ClearSale in Great Britain, Australia and Mexico.

Almost 22% of interviewed buyers report buying something once or twice a week, while 23% do so at least once every two weeks. At least 53% of them have increased this regularity in the last six months.

Mexicans spend an average of 2,472.45 pesos a month, according to the report. A total of 36% allocate less than $ 1,215 pesos, 44% between 1,215 and 2,836 and 18% are spending between 2,837 and 9,697 pesos ... 2% affirmed to exceed that monthly amount.

This is different from Australian, Canadian and British respondents, who mostly report lower levels of spending. This may translate into the fact that many e-shoppers in Mexico still belong to above-average socioeconomic levels, as their spending structure more closely resembles that of US consumers.

The Mexican women in this study spend less money on average than their male counterparts: 2,212.86 vs. 2,725.64 pesos. In fact, 43% of them are in the first level of expenditure (less than 1,215 pesos), compared to 29% of men.

However, these numbers don't tell the whole story. When asked which items they are likely to buy online, respondents in Mexico assigned first place to electronics and technology products (63%), a category that is preferred globally by men (67% vs. 42% of women). women). But the next four classes of products are household items, fashion, beauty items, and books, where women are in the majority.

Among the most visited e-commerce sites in Mexico in 2019, four are clearly related to fashion and home goods: Liverpool , Sears , Coppel and The Home Depot , while others such as Amazon , Walmart and Mercado Libre owe a share. important of your sales to these categories.

Fashion itself is an expanding category, where large firms from all market segments, from El Palacio de Hierro to H&M and Bershka compete with small boutiques, such as Mexicouture or Hi-Bye, with e-stores of famous brands, such as Mango and Nike , or even global high-fashion venues, like Farfetch. The low-budget segment is served by discount firms such as Linio, Privalia, and Ösom.

Beauty products are also incredibly dynamic, with firms like Sephora, MAC, Benefit, Urban Decay, and Bobbi Brown running their own e-stores that deliver locally, while dozens of others are available through The Beauty Box Mexico, Care to Beauty. , Olivine and the department stores.

Likewise, it has been proven that being the one who pays does not necessarily imply being the one who makes the decisions. Studies carried out by the specialized agency Comscore have found that more than 80% of e-commerce decisions are made by women.

Given the important role of women in e-commerce, gender differences regarding online fraud and anti-fraud measures must also be considered.

Women are more likely to buy via their tablet (60% vs. 39% of men) or mobile phone (52% vs. 48%). This use of mobile devices also creates different scenarios for security measures, in terms of protection against hackers, viruses or even simple ways to steal personal information, such as theft of the device.

Women are much more likely to have their phones on hand while shopping online than men (42% always have them). In contrast, only 29% say they have their credit cards on hand all the time. Although Mexicans in general tend to be more cautious about checking the site URL than Canadian, British, and Australian consumers (55% say they do), women tend to skip that topic more often (only 43% say they they do).

Overall, 77% of women think online fraud is common, compared to 75% of men, and they are more aware of credit card fraud (76% vs 73%) and phishing scams ( 69% vs. 67%). Additionally, a higher proportion of women think that preventing online fraud is the responsibility of the website (35% vs. 28%). Consequently, only 34% think stores are being overly cautious about fraud protection and 51% believe that protection is more important than privacy.

In terms of the shopping experience, women are slightly less likely to retry if their payment is declined the first time (55% vs 60% of men), but they will be much more inclined to return to the same site on if payment is denied (only 35% say they would not visit again, compared to 42% of men). Mexicans in general are not put off by the existence of many security measures while shopping (57%).

In short, women are more cautious than men about online fraud and are much more in favor of protective measures such as two-step verification. On the other hand, your choice of e-commerce devices makes it more urgent to provide fraud detection capabilities in online stores. This, of course, does not mean a smooth check out is not preferred by everyone.

Online stores should focus on the needs of women with regard to security and protection against online fraud. They are powerful drivers of e-commerce and their preferences must be clearly heard.

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