Online Research and the Path to Purchase
Posted on Thu, Feb 24, 2011
Since our inception, we've been talking about "position matters" and the importance capturing the attention of shoppers at the point of engagement - wherever that point may be. That starting point may be a search engine, more often a retail website, maybe even a review - but one thing is clear, it's nearly always online.
So, it was with great interest that I read the recent coverage of the AMP Agency's "Inside the Buy" study. The study evaluated digital behaviors in five leading consumer categories: baby products, consumer electronics, food and beverage, health and beauty, and fashion.
The Web has opened up more brands, more shopping venues and more choices of all kinds for consumers. Past studies have seen a consumer allegiance to pricing (in sheer cost, free shipping, or online coupon options), which was confirmed here as well, but this study, also called attention to the lack of brand loyalty - in fact, only 3% of the consumers studied showed any brand affinity.
Let's start at the beginning: in research conducted by comScore in July 2010, consumers consulted an average of 4.1 information sources in the path to purchase. The starting point, most often, was a search engine or retail website. And the elapsed time between research and purchase was often more than one week.
The AMP study showed similar research patterns with consumers starting the process at:
- Brand websites (47%)
- Retail websites (46%)
- Review/social media sites (40%)
- Blogs (18%)
The elapsed time was slightly less than the comScore group (who were only focused on consumer electronics and computer products) with 36% spending at least a few days researching a product, and 24% spending less than one day. Only 2% purchased on the spot.
The study further showed interesting trends between product categories:
- 43% of consumers report doing some type of research before they buy
- 64% of consumer electronics shoppers research online prior to purchase
- 31% research health and beauty
- 44% study the baby products category
The majority of consumers thought that doing research ahead of purchase positively influenced their final decision, with 36% buying products due to their research.
The Bottom Line: The Web - blogs, reviews, manufacturer and retail websites - continues to be a main information source for buyers across categories. For retailers, it's a call to keep sites content-rich, current and full of reviews from peers and experts. It's also a wake up call for product marketers who are trying to capture the fickle and fleeting attention of today's shopper - it is important to be where they are shopping as often as possible to influence the final purchase.
To see the full study from the AMP Agency, please visit their site; and to read more about the aforementioned study from comScore, please click here.