The way in which consumes search for products and seek information about them has changed dramatically. Several years ago people would have simply visited a shop or browsed through a catalogue, however now we are seeing more and more channels being used before a final purchase has been made. A recent research report by ATG looked into the habits and trends of consumers from the interest stage right through to the purchasing stage, and some of the results were extremely interesting. Within the younger age brackets such as under 35’s it was apparent how crucial the internet, mobile phones and social networking sites are for determining the final purchase.
The perception from most people is that online has replaced real shopping dramatically. Even when we consider our own purchasing habits we instantly think we do more shopping online, however when we think about it a little deeper, do we really? It is important that any company offering professional search engine optimisation services or web design is aware of consumer trends, as it could make the difference between browsing a product and actually making a purchase.
The research study showed that a large proportion of people used the internet or their mobile to initially research a product. Search engines were of course one of the most popular places for consumers to research not only product details, but also customer reviews and price comparison. This is an important point as it highlights the importance of web pages being highly ranked and visible within SERPs. The unfortunate thing about offering multiple channels for users is that rather than switch from one to the other, they are more likely to use them all, and for this reason, online research is only the beginning.
Although as a nation we seem to think the power of the high street has diminished, this is in fact not the case. A lot of people still like to visit the high street to as they like the tangible element of shopping as it is much easier for the human brain to digest. An interesting discovery was the amount of people using multiple channels at once, in the sense that they would be in an actual store yet looking at the product via mobile internet to seek out further information. This shows multi-channel use at its best.
Despite all this activity, purchases are still not often made in-store. The next stage can often be to delve into social networking sites to gain opinions of friends. This is where it is important that your SMM strategy is strong. Even if the opinions and comments showed a positive spin towards a particular product, the deal was still not done.
For the final clinch, email promotions made an appearance, with users thinking highly of any money off deals they received. This could be the final pull to get that online purchase. The secret here is to engage with the consumer at every stage of the buying process, right from the initial search through to the finished result.
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Posted by Steve.
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