Over a quarter of consumers find Christmas shopping online as stressful as purchasing in-store

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Over a quarter of consumers find Christmas shopping online as stressful as purchasing in-store.

More than a quarter (27%) of Christmas shoppers find buying presents online just as stressful as going in-store. That's according to new research from experience analytics firm Clicktale, which highlights the need for retailers to consider their customer's moods and mindsets throughout the online shopping process.

The research, which surveyed over 1,000 UK consumers, also discovered that women are more likely to feel stressed when shopping online than men. 28% of women considered shopping online to be stressful, compared with 26% of men. In general, women find Christmas shopping to be an altogether more stressful activity than men – with the spilt being 60% to 53%.

Commenting on these findings, Geoff Galat, Chief Marketing Officer at Clicktale said: "While it's not unexpected that consumers find Christmas shopping stressful, it's surprising to see that such a large percentage of shoppers consider purchasing gifts online to be just as stressful as shopping in-store.

"One of the biggest benefits of ecommerce has always been the convenience and stress-free nature of shopping from home. As our research shows however, many of today's ecommerce sites are still placing unintended strain on their customers. To overcome this issue, retailers must be careful to design their sites around customers' shifting moods and mindsets. By monitoring subtle signs such as 'rage clicks' (angrily clicking content in rapid succession) online retailers can start to understand the emotions behind their customers' purchase behaviors. This not only helps to reduce Christmas shopping stress, but can also increase sales by putting the customer in a more positive, purchase-friendly mindset."