Shoppers search online: Take advantage of emerging buying trends

16. Dec, 2008 0 Comments

This article is taken from the first issue of the monthly VDP Websites newsletter.

Shoppers are increasingly using the internet to research, but still prefer face to face purchases

An article published in “Business Wire”, has shed some light on emerging buyer behaviour.

“According to a new study by Harris Interactive(R), a global leader in market research, shoppers consult an average of four resources on their path to purchase. Most consumers begin their research online, but ultimately make their purchase in a brick-and-mortar store.

Search engines (20%) rank as the number one resource for initiating shopping, followed by discussions with family, friends or co-workers (15%) and visits to the retail store (15%). Search engines ranked as one of the top-three shopping resources for every demographic studied. Despite the growing importance of the Internet to retailers, most actual purchases (67%) are made in-store. However, 46 percent of those in-store purchases began with research on the Internet as compared to a mere 21 percent which began in-store.”

I find a few things interesting in this article. Firstly, of the purchases that are made in a store, almost half have done research on the internet. This says to me that websites can do more than just listing products and providing contact details. People are visiting websites to research, and a good website will answer a customers questions, not just act as an online business card.

Now could be a good time to revisit your website. Think like your customer and formulate some questions that he or she might have. See if your website answers those questions, and how the sales copy converts those answers into loyalty.

The second interesting point I take from this research is the point about search engines now being the #1 source for people to begin their research. This tells me that being at the top of search engines is becoming more important than ever.

I’ve just finished a three part series of articles about do-it-yourself search engine optimisation for small business. It’s definitely worth checking out (click below).

How to reach the top of search engines – Part 1

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