Before making a purchase, it's not uncommon to research the various choices on the web. Sometimes we buy offline after having researched prices online, and sometimes vice versa.
An interesting recent study from IAB Europe shows that researching and buying behaviour varies according to the product type.
When it comes to CDs and books, it appears that more of us buy online than research online, whereas if you're talking about domestic appliances, far more people research online than actually buy.
A few things that come to mind when I read this:
- real world bookshops and record stores with no online outlet are up against it (as if they needed telling)
- for online booksellers, reader reviews/ratings are perhaps redundant
- real world sellers of domestic appliances need to put more effort into providing good quality information, advice, ratings and reviews online, not necessarily to compete with but to complement the shopping portals/price comparison sites
Simplified, perhaps, but a reminder that our use of the web continues to become more nuanced and complex, and behaviour in one sector does not necessarily translate to another.
