Study Shows Tech Shoppers Start Their Shopping Online

Study shows that most buyers of consumer electronics start their shopping online

Most buyers of consumer electronics start their shopping online according to a new study. The consumer section of IR’s Trends and Data page shows that up to two-thirds of these shoppers prefer to research products on the web. However, the data also reveals that actual purchases are being bought online.

The research study covered 1,200 shoppers of consumer electronics and computers, and was done through an online focus group and a poll this spring. The top products that were either researched or bought online included television sets and laptops. The poll was administered by web monitoring company comScore and was sponsored by search marketing firms iProspect together with Searchandise.

Laptops or notebooks were researched or bought by 52 percent of customers. Television units accounted for 42 percent while audio speakers at 11 percent, and home theater systems, 12 percent, were the least researched or purchased items.

The main reason cited by most of those polled was to replace their old items.

42 percent of shoppers of consumer electronics had a brand preference when they shopped. 53 percent of computer buyers also had a particular brand in mind at the onset.

An average of 4.1 sources of information was researched by both groups to compare products. The whole process of researching to buying took from one week to four weeks, with nearly 85 percent eventually buying those products within seven weeks.

The study further reveals that search engines and retail sites are the initial places for research, while the location of the actual purchases were split evenly between online and offline shops.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Wednesday July 28 2010, 10:27 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Shopping. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0