When I saw this research, for some reason, the song by The Miracles popped into my head. You know the one, “My momma told me, you better shop around.”
Ok, they might have been talking about finding the right girl, but doesn’t almost anything in life that is worth a nickel deserve some research. We all do it. And apparently, we do a lot of it online.
According to a survey by comScore report by eMarketer, 82% of people prefer to do product research online. That breaks down to 61% desktop/laptop, 11% tablet and 10% mobile. Online even edged out brick and mortar for purchases with only 41% going brick & mortar and 55% online.
What does that mean for retailers, even if you don’t sell online, have a detail product catalog online is important. Customer will be willing to consider a local vendor in the mix if they can find competitive prices online. Even more, it is saying Brick and Mortar retailers need to be selling online to avoid losing the people who convert from online browsers to online shoppers.