Consumers favor free shipping above all other money-saving options when shopping online, but men favor coupons over sale items while women prefer sale items over coupons.
The finding appears in the first Ebates Online Savings Index, released yesterday by Ebates (www.ebates.com), a shopping portal that gives consumers cash back every time they shop online.
Manufacturer rebates and sweepstakes ranked behind sale items and coupons across the board.
The Ebates Online Savings Index draws on proprietary data from the online shopping and savings behavior of Ebates' 7 million members. To be released quarterly, the index will serve to track shopper preferences and educate the growing community of online shoppers about ways to recognize the best deals.
The index also found that the class of items consumers are shopping for affects how they choose to save online.
For example, 90 percent of those shopping in the home & garden category cite free shipping among their favorite ways to save money when shopping, higher than in any other category. Those buying in the business & office and computer categories look for mail-in rebates more often than do users in other categories. And those shopping for apparel and jewelry are eager to find items on sale.
