by Jackie Bourke

Created on: April 23, 2009   Last Updated: April 24, 2009

What motivates internet shoppers is pretty much what motivates any shopper online or offline to find the best deal.

On top of this there are a variety of factors which make shopping on the internet more attractive to a lot of people. The sad thing is that many internet businesses have not fully grasped this yet.

There is still an element of people jumping on the internet bandwagon without taking the time and research to fully and deeply understand the layers of motivation of internet shopper, in addition to the obvious one.

They reckon they can be another one of those internet billionaires.

It's amazing how many people think that they will make their fortune via internet shops and online marketing ideas but such a small percentage of them actually really appreciate the dynamics well enough to achieve true, long term success.

This article describes internet shopping psychology which is the term that describes the completely different mindset and deeper motivations of the internet buyer as opposed to the traditional buyer in a local or high street shop, or even in a business to business scenario!

There still exists a huge knowledge gap for many internet retailers regarding internet shopping psychology.

The reasons for this are twofold; the market is still developing and many internet retailers find it difficult to stand back and see their online business from their potential customer's perspective.

What is Internet Shopping Psychology?

Let's paint the picture of those of us who are the right age to have had years of traditional shopping experience and now have moved onto buying online.

Most of us will have spent years of being followed around shops by overly keen salespeople and feeling the need to be polite and friendly to them, as they're only doing their job.

Worse still, knowing when a sales assistant is telling you that you look absolutely gorgeous in a dress that you know makes you look two sizes bigger!

So why wouldn't the vast majority of us be only too delighted to detachedly jump off a website in seconds if we don't like the look or feel of it? No-one there to offend or worry about. No pressure to feel in the comfort of our own homes, right?

Here's the thing we are no longer a captive audience to anyone. You have no way to persuade us to buy from you unless your website is already in tune with internet shopping psychology.

The internet shopper after years of traditional shopping is not always a nice patient animal. More often than not, he or she will be as impatient as the mood desires.

This means that your web page which is aimed at their thought process en route to a potential purchase, does not reflect what they expect to see, well it really doesn't matter how much you paid a great web designer to do your site.

Of course design is very important, but if your content/information is not blatantly clear and upfront, you risk losing a big percentage of potential buyers.

And again after years of being sold to that is exactly what we don't want to put up with now!

Internet shoppers are motivated by the satisfaction of:

Finding the best deal

Doing this in the comfort of their own home or office

The freedom of doing it when and how they please

The relaxation of not having to deal with salespeople

The huge range of products to be assessed without moving out of that chair

Being able to check out other customer's opinions

Finding websites that give them the information that others don't

No geographical restrictions

In some cases being able to buy directly from the producer

Of course there is a social aspect to shopping in a centre or high street, but nowadays many people still do this and then go home and buy online to get the best price.

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