Browsing Then Buying
The better your internet connection, the more the internet influences what you buy. In a new study by Media-Screen, 50% of consumers with fast connections said that the internet had influenced a recent purchase: 36% cited shopping sites and 15% search engines. That compares to only 11% who said television commercials influenced a recent purchase. Magazine ads were even lower at 6%. The survey, called Netpop | Shop, tracks the purchasing behavior of 1,397 U.S. broadband users 13 years and older. Of course, you have to take these numbers with a teaspoon or two of salt. This is user-reported data, after all, and we feel smarter when we say we research purchases online than when we say we are TV zombies who buy what commercials tell us to buy. But still, the numbers are pretty convincing. For people who care enough about the internet to get a broadband connection, the influence of the internet is rapidly overtaking advertising in traditional media. For these users, the internet is changing word-of-mouth recommendations too. An additional 9% of these consumers said their purchases were influenced by things other people said online in user-generated content such as consumer reviews and blogs. Shoppers spend an average 3.8 hours researching online purchases. Yet another reason why your store needs to have a helpful, information rich website, even if you don’t sell online.