A Nielsen survey in May
2008 found that among a representative group of people who had recently
made consumer electronics purchases in a brick and mortar store, 80 per
cent bought from a store whose Web site they visited first. Further, 53
per cent purchased from the retailer on whose Web site they had spent
the most time.
While the benefits of online sales have long been apparent to
retailers, the ability of the Internet to drive offline sales is now
rising to the fore. Among consumer electronics purchasers, 58 per cent
indicated that if they had only one channel in which to do product
research prior to purchase, they would choose the Internet, compared
with only 25 per cent that would choose to be able to do research in a
brick and mortar store.
“A strong Web presence with broad and deep online content is critical
for all retailers, including brick and mortar stores,” said Ken Cassar,
vice president, industry insights, Nielsen Online. “Surprisingly
enough, the industry that retailers should look to for guidance on
multi-channel integration is the media industry, which has embraced the
notion of content portability, allowing their consumers to easily
consume content wherever they are with whatever device they prefer.
Retailers that are able to facilitate consumers’ multi-channel shopping
behaviors will enjoy growth in market share across the enterprise.”
Respondents were asked:
If you were only able to use one source of information to support your
next consumer electronics purchase, which would you choose?
Table 1: Information Sources ranked by Preference among Consumers
Preferred Information Source
|
Percent of Consumers
|
| Internet |
58 per cent
|
Visit to local stores
|
25 per cent
|
Reviews in newspapers/magazines
|
8 per cent
|
Friends and family
|
8 per cent
|
| Other |
1 per cent
|
(Source: Neilsen Online)
Low Consideration Categories
Even
in product categories that involve less research before purchase, the
Web plays an important part in the information gathering process.
Nielsen’s survey showed that 44 percent of pet food consumers went
online to learn more about the product. Safety was top of mind for
these consumers, who were most interested in nutritional
specifications, product ingredients and recall information in their
online research (see Table 2).
Table 2: Top 5 Topics among Consumers Researching Pet Food Online
Topic
|
Per cent of consumers
|
Learn about nutritional specifications
|
48 per cent
|
Learn about product ingredients
|
45 per cent
|
Learn about recalls
|
45 per cent
|
Learn about safety issues
|
45 per cent
|
Find sales/promotions
|
40 per cent
|
(Source: Neilsen Online)
|
