Seventy-seven percent of consumer electronics (CE) purchases were influenced by Internet research according to the joint Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®) and Yahoo! study Understanding How Consumers Use the Internet to Research and Shop for CE Products.
The study, conducted by Hall and Partners, explored the path to purchase for five CE products: cell phones, computers, digital cameras, digital music players and televisions, and found that online research time directly correlated to product price. As the price of a product increased so did the amount of time a consumer spent researching that product. The least amount of time spent researching was on cell phones at nine hours and the most times spent researching was 15 hours on televisions. For those who purchased, the average amount of time spent researching online was 12 hours.
"Of the total $32.5 billion spent on the CE products tracked in this study, online research influenced a striking 77 percent or $25.1 billion," said Senior Director of Market Research Tim Herbert, CEA. "Consumers naturally want to make informed CE buying decisions and we found they are turning to the Internet for their research. This includes search engines, manufacturer's Web sites, retail Web sites and shopping engines."
Although the majority of CE purchases are made at retail locations, the findings showed there are many reasons why a consumer would research online before purchasing in-store. Seventy-three percent of consumers said comparing prices of the same product at different stores is easy to do online and 64 percent said they preferred online because there is a wider variety of products. Forty-five percent of those who research online and purchase offline use a search engine during the information-gathering process.
The study also looked into the differences between "searchers" and "non-searchers" based on self-reported search engine usage during their research and purchase process. "Searchers," defined as those who use search to research CE goods, represent 47 percent of the offline and online purchasers surveyed. They are more educated about what they buy, increasingly likely to advocate brands by word-of-mouth and are often considered a resource of information by friends and family. They consider more brands and are 114 percent more likely to consider Internet display advertising in their research process.
"Although 'searchers' and 'non-searchers' are very similar demographically, those who prefer to use search to research and purchase CE products have a totally different mindset," said David Rubinstein, Tech and Telecom Category Director for Yahoo! Search Marketing, "Their high level of engagement and willingness to share information with others makes them an ideal target audience for CE manufacturers and retailers."
While the Internet plays a powerful research role, print media, family and friends, retail displays and other traditional sources also aid the purchaser when buying a CE product. Consumers still use these sources to learn about new brands, compare brands and products and get overviews of different categories.
"Today's information-hungry consumers turn to multiple sources. Traditional sources of information are still leveraged by purchasers in the shopping process. These include print and television ads, word-of-mouth and the in-store experience. The average consumer uses six different sources to guide their decision. Getting the right mix of sources is critical to a manufacturer's success," said Herbert.
The study consisted of a 25-minute survey of sample of both consumers who intend to and those who have already purchased consumer electronics devices. It also investigated customer brand loyalty based on manufacturer versus retailer website visits.
For more information, check out the press release.
