Online Shoppers Purchase More In Store

According to a study from ShopLocal, the leader in multi-channel shopping services, 85 percent of adult Internet shoppers used the Web to make more informed shopping trips to their local stores. Results of the annual American Interactive Consumer Survey, conducted by The Dieringer Research Group on behalf of ShopLocal, indicate that consumers are using online circulars and other tools to compare prices for big- and small-ticket items alike.

“Nearly nine out of 10 adults – from the 110 million Internet shoppers 18 years and older who go online at least once a month – were found to have used the Internet for local shopping, not an online purchase,” said Bob Armour, chief marketing officer for ShopLocal. “This confirms that the Internet is now widely used for local shopping information as well as making online purchases.”

The annual survey from ShopLocal found that nearly two-thirds of multi-channel shoppers now say the Internet is the most important shopping information resource, confirming the high value of online information about products and stores to local shoppers. In fact, online consumers overall responded that they spend more time researching products online than they spend shopping in person.

Multi-channel shoppers also tend to purchase more at local stores than they originally planned to after doing online research, according to the new study. During the three months prior to the survey, nine out of 10 local shopping trips made by multi-channel consumers for products researched online resulted in purchases worth $125 more than the products researched online – a figure that rose 25 percent from the prior year. This means that retailers get added leverage from advertising their goods and services online due to this spending “halo effect.”

The most frequent use of multi-channel shopping is associated with purchasing of home furnishings, tools, men's apparel, sports and fitness products and major appliances. Other leading products more likely to be purchased locally after online research included household products, tools, small appliances, cameras and telephone products.

The annual American Interactive Consumer Survey, conducted by The Dieringer Research Group (Milwaukee, WI.) was fielded in the fourth quarter of 2006, and interviewed 2,2001 U.S. consumers by phone and online.