Credit cards are the most popular payment method worldwide, preferred by 69% of online shoppers.
40% of online shoppers say they like to pay with PayPal, with debit cards coming in third at 37%, according to a new report from WorldPay, a provider of global online payment and risk management services. Shoppers could select more than one payment method in the survey.
The Global Online Shopper Report, based on a March survey of 19,000 consumers in 15 countries, also notes that U.S. consumers spend on average 23% of their disposable income on goods and services purchased online, just slightly above the 22% average for consumers across all 15 countries in the survey.
Among U.S. consumers who had made an online purchase through a mobile device within the three-month period prior to the March survey, 53% used a smartphone or tablet to purchase clothes, 46% to buy books and 42% DVDs or online games, the report says.
In addition, the report shows mobile commerce spending levels among mobile device owners who are also “heavy spenders” online—or those who spent 30% or more of the disposable income online within the past year. In the U.S., 51% of consumers in this group made a purchase on a smartphone within the three-month period prior to the March survey, while 56% made a mobile purchase using a tablet. Worldwide, 55% of such heavy spenders made a purchase on a smartphone and 67% on a tablet.
The report, which also includes responses from 153 senior managers at online retailers in the U.S. and abroad, also notes that U.S. consumers shop online for an average of 5.4 hours per month, compared with 5 hours for consumers worldwide, and that the most common time of day for online shopping among U.S. consumers is 10:30 a.m.
Other findings in the report include:
95% of e-commerce purchases worldwide are made at home;
59% of online U.S. consumers watch TV while shopping online, compared with 46% of consumers worldwide;
44% of consumers worldwide have made a purchase from a foreign web site; Australia, at 76%, has the highest percentage.
Amazon.com was the most popular shopping site, cited by 43% of consumers worldwide and 83% in the U.S. EBay.com came in second, cited by 33% of consumers worldwide and 45% in the U.S.
Amazon.com Inc. is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
Online buying on mobile devices will covered in several sessions at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2012 in June, including an address by Brian Tilzer, vice president of e-commerce and business development at Staples Inc., on “Why Staples is investing big in mobile commerce.”