Yesterday I received a call from a potential customer asking me where my shop was. She was from North West Sydney and sounded quite a bit older than me. She had purchased jewellery from me at a conference and wanted to buy some more. I told her that I had an online shop and she seemed quite put out. I realised that e-commerce is not that popular with baby boomers and older generations. She was happier to come a long distance to purchase again from me personally, than buy online. It makes sense really, and is not ground breaking news. Generation y and younger have been brought up with computers, they are comfortable with them and trust their use. They don't want to waste time shopping in person when they can do it online. A majority of my generation, gen x, have had to use computers at work so we are comfortable enough with them to buy online, but probably don't approach it with the same gusto as younger generations.
A kind friend of mine giving me words of encouragement sent me an article yesterday afternoon which discusses the fact that confidence in e-commerce has soared. See the attached link. bandt.com.au/news/australian-confidence-in-e-commerce-soars. It confirmed my thoughts. It talks about the vast majority of internet users purchasing goods and services online and made the point that the 25 to 34 year olds are the most avid shoppers. It also states that travel, furniture and concerts or movies were the most popular purchases. That is probably because those goods are a known quantity - you know exactly what you are purchasing. On the other hand there is good and poor quality jewellery. I always sell jewellery which I consider to be good quality. I am hoping that as my customer numbers increase, combined with selling my jewellery and accessories at conferences and parties, people will get to know the style and quality of what I sell so they feel confident to purchase it online. I will just have to wait and see.