Keeping our clients in mind means also keeping their customers in mind.   As our top priority, understanding our clients' needs also requires both a fundamental and thorough understanding how and why quilters shop online, and translating that understanding into more efficient, easy to use and organized websites. 

      In an effort to continue education about what your customers expect out of an excellent website, Websites for Quilters has conducted another survey study designed to examine quilters' preferences in online stores vs brick and mortar stores.

2011 Online Shopper Survey for Quilters

About the Participants

      The survey was completed by 1,070 quilters, 99.2% of which were female. 78.4% of the survey sample were ages 51 and above, while only 17.8% were 36-50 years of age.

       24.7% of all participants owned a long-arm machine.  Most common makes/models of long arm machines owned are added below: (These three responses accounted for 49% of all “Other” responses):

• Gammil (21%)
• HandiQuilter (19%)
• APQS  (9%)

       The types of sewing/quilting participants practiced most are as follows:

Among other most popular types of quilting were listed:

• Modern Quilting
• Home décor
• Applique
• Embroidery

     Quilters were also asked about their years of quilting experience.  Answers are reflected in the chart below:

Online vs Brick & Mortar: Shopping Preference & Spending

     When asked about shopping preference, responses were fairly equal as to whether or not participants agreed with the following statement: "I prefer to shop online for my quilting needs":

      Interested to find the impetus for a shoppers inclination to purchase fabric at a brick & mortar versus online, the 2011 study also focused on the top perceived benefits for shoppers to shop at either location. 

Top 3: Greatest Benefits to shopping at brick & mortar locations

1. Customers are able to see the true color of the fabric
2. Customers get a feel for the texture of the fabric
3. Customers are able to request advice from store associates

Other common responses detailing the advantages of shopping at a physical location included:

1. The ability to compare fabrics side by side (print scale/color/complimenting patterns)
2. To be inspired while there (quilt displays, store projects, etc)
3. No wait time for shipping

    When asked to describe advantages to shopping online, the top three responses included:

1. Convenience: costumer does not have to leave comforts of home. 
2. Ability to shop multiple stores at once
3. Ability to get all shopping done easily

     Most common “Other” responses indicate that shoppers perceive online stores to offer better prices, more sales, or be more cost effective than local quilt shops:

1. Price related responses accounted for 43% of the “other responses.  Customers responses reflected the belief that it was cheaper to pay for shipping than to pay for gas to visit a LQM, that online sales were more frequent, and prices were believed to be cheaper overall than those found at physical stores.
2. 24% of all “Other” responses related to consumers’ inability to find fabrics at their local market.  Responses included searches for fabric which was out of print,  greater fabrics selection, and the ease of searching for fabric assortments and odd prints.

       It was found that an average of $750 was spent on fabric and quilting supplies last year online, while $813 was the annual average among those who purchased the same items at brick & mortar locations.  Although it may appear that customers spent more money at physical quilting store locations, this is not necessarily so.  The mode (the most often occurring amount) was also calculated for all survey responses as well, and it was found that the Mode for online shopping =$500, compared to $0 at brick and mortar locations.  

      Another motivation for purchases (independent of the previous shopping benefits per location), are price and sales competition.  Almost 70% (69.6%) of all survey participants claimed to actively compare prices between brick & mortar and online stores.

Item breakdown per Annual Average

     In order to better understand the amounts spent last year at online and brick & mortar locations, survey participants were asked to report what amount of their total annual spending was using to purchase fabric, and other quilting supplies. 

Online Breakdown:

• 60.1% reported that 0-30% was spent on general quilting supplies (not including fabric)
• 58.9% reported that 70-100% was spent on Fabric alone. 

Individual breakdown per response is as follows:

Brick & Mortar Breakdown:

• 74.2% reported that 0-30% was spent on general quilting supplies (not including fabric)
• 58.6% reported that 70-100% was spent on Fabric alone.

Individual breakdown per response as follows:

Items that are purchased the most frequently online, ranked most(1) - least(6) are as follows:

1. Quilting Fabrics
2. Notions
3. Quilt Patterns
4. Thread
5. Batting
6. Sewing Machines

Of all items available online, the top two most avoided products to purchase online are:

1. Sewing Machines
2. Batting

Site Strengths and Deterrents

     Eager to find what aspects of a website tend to negatively impact an online shopping experience, participants were also asked to list common weaknesses or negative aspects of online stores, ranked in order from most to least deterring.  Rated from most deterring to least deterring, 1 being the most deterring, and 7 being the least, the top weaknesses are listed as follows:

1)      Website Security Concerns

2)      Cluttered / hard to follow website navigation

3)      Poor or No Search Function

4)      Slow Website

5)      Lengthy or cumbersome checkout process

6)      Requires a Username or Password to Check Out

7)      Unattractive website design

     Online store strengths were also determined. A ranked order of the most positive strengths of an online store are rated in importance from most to least important (1 being the most, 7 the least):

1)      Discounted Products

2)      Favorable Shipping Prices

3)      Sales Tax-free Shipping

4)      Customer Service

5)      Guarantee/Favorable Return Policy

6)      Fast Shipping

7)      Attractive Website Design

     Customer loyalty to an online store was also a topic of interest.  When asked about loyalty to online stores, 90.3% of survey participants responded that they do not consider themselves loyal to any online store.  Almost 60% did note, however, that they would check their usual stores first but also search elsewhere, indicating a need to make products easy to search for.  The ability of a product to be readily available and easily searched for may contribute to a customers loyalty.  A complete breakdown of responses is displayed below:

Social Networking and Search Engine Use

       Because we found that 62.4% of all respondents said that they found online stores using a search engine, we felt it important to find out which search engines they use:

 
 84% of participants said that they did not maintain their own blog.  When asked which social networks they use on a regular basis, we found that the majority of them use Facebook.  Refer to the graph below for a complete breakdown of Social Media use:

Marketing

     Knowing how to reach your public is another important aspect of planning for your business.  Besides search engines and social media, there are other ways of marketing your products and business to reach your customers. 

     Text alerts is just one method of keeping in touch with your customers.  Based on our study of those who frequently use texting, we found that 32.4% of participants reported NO USE of texting, however nearly half (46.5%) reported moderate to frequent use.

     Quilters were also asked to identify how they had heard about some of their favorite online stores:

     Knowing that over half of all participants found their favorite stores from search engines, and that over 80% of search engine use came from Google, means that optimizing your site for Google's search results can be highly beneficial for your site. Keep in mind, participants were able to choose more than one method of finding their favorite sites, accounting for the percentage sum equaling over 100%.

     Knowing who you are catering to and how to reach them are extremely important when focusing on how to maintain your site. Our services and products are specifically tailored to quilters and to making your site more efficient and tailored to your target market.  Make sure you have the right tools, and contact us to help show you how! 

Comments

• Great survey! Gives us a lot to think about and work on!
  by Dora D. on 20 June 2011 at 7:08 a.m.
• Thanks so much for this info. Very well-presented and informative. Guess it's time to get on Facebook. . . Annie
  by Annie Unrein on 18 June 2011 at 4:12 p.m.
• Great info! Thank you!
  by Donna W. on 02 June 2011 at 6:32 p.m.

Your Name:
Comments:
Security code: