Consumers are looking for long-term relationships with online sellers

It's easy to assume that the range of choice available when buying online leads to a lack of consumer loyalty with people shopping around for the best deal.

However, a new survey from e-commerce specialist Avangate suggests that customers are looking for a long-term relationship with providers of online services.

Findings of the survey include that 60 percent of consumers have set up at least one or two recurring payments online. 46 percent refuse to purchase online subscriptions without a 'freemium' option and almost 40 percent prefer to pay bills online.

The ability to compare is still important though with 45 percent comparing three to four online channels before making a purchase decision. Payment methods remain resolutely conservative with 99 percent of consumers not using Bitcoin and the one percent who do not using it as their primary payment method.

Mobile payments are catching on but mainly among younger age groups. In total 52 percent of consumers have used their mobile to make a purchase. But while 30-44 year olds are most active with 30 percent making monthly mobile payments, 72 percent of over 60s have not used a mobile to make a payment.

The main concern with mobile payments is security with 22 percent of consumers saying that they don’t feel secure when making mobile payments, but they do it anyway.

"Today, we are seeing the digitization of products into services -- what we are calling the 'New Services Economy' -- and it's spawning the next generation of software and online services companies that are redefining commerce. For these new service providers and vendors, the ability to truly monetize their offerings is no longer about point payment transactions with the customer, but rather being able to interact, service and expand the relationship with the customer from the discovery, trial, and add-on and retention phases -- all of which are potential opportunities to make purchasing decisions," says Carl Theobald, CEO at Avangate.

Avangate has added more than 200 new features to its Commerce Solution for Service Providers to help businesses exploit online revenue streams. You can find out more on the Avangate website and see more details of the survey findings in the infographic below.

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