Shoppers Search Before Buying

According to a new online survey 87 percent of people occasionally or regularly research their products online before going to a store in person. The BigResearch survey says consumer electronics was the most popular category.

Google was the first choice for product research of 22 percent of the people surveyed, more than than Yahoo, Amazon and eBay combined. That so many people research online before hitting retailers is great news for Google et al, but not so much for advertisers who would like to see those leads converted into sales.

People may continue to go the brick and mortar route because they still want to see or touch the item, or because they may feel they can get a better price (by avoiding the shipping charges).

Marketers can address these issues by including more product information online, such as more images and deeper specifications, or by offering a price guarantee. Amazon.com etc could offer to accept returns of an item if consumers were able to get it for less in person. This would assure people that their purchases were a good deal, and the percentage of people who returned goods would likely be very low.

In a different study, BigResearch says more people are staying home to shop online and driving to stores less because of the rising gas prices. There's always a silver lining.