Online Research Influences 77% or $25.1 billion of Consumer Electronics Purchases
Of the total $32.5 billion spent on the CE
products tracked in a study, Internet research influenced a striking 77%
or $25.1 billion, according
to a joint Consumer Electronics Association and Yahoo! study. This
includes search engines, manufacturer's websites, retail websites and
shopping engines.
As the price of a product increased so did the amount of time a consumer spent researching that product:
- 9 hours - the least amount of time spent researching was on cell phones
- 15 hours - the most times spent researching was on televisions
- 12 hours - the average amount of time spent researching online
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:
- 73% of consumers said comparing prices of a product is easy to do online
- 64% said they preferred online because there is a wider variety of products
- 45% of those who research online and purchase offline use a search engine during the information-gathering process.
The study "Understanding How Consumers Use the Internet to Research and Shop for CE Products" 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.
