Let your fingers do the walking--on a keyboard

IRWD2010 Conference

If anyone needed any confirmation, a new survey from consultants Retail Forward Inc. demonstrates that the Internet is definitely a multi-channel vehicle. Of the top three reasons that consumers use retail web sites, only one was to buy something—and that reason wasn’t even Number One.

Columbus, Ohio-based Retail Forward’s E-Retail Intelligence Program surveyed 707 Internet users from March 28 to April 1. The survey found that the top three reasons consumers visit retail web sites are to research products, make online purchases and find a store, in that order.

Top 500 Guide

Half of the consumers surveyed cited product research as the top reason they use store web sites, while 40% said they use the sites for online purchases and 31% said they used the store locator. Only 5% of those surveyed said they had never visited the web site of a store-based retailer.

The research function is backed up by another bit of statistical information in the survey. “43% of Internet users say more than ever they know what they want to buy in advance, which is a strong indication that they’re using the web site for research,” says Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president and director of the E-retail Intelligence Program.

Whitfield says the results give credence to much retailer anecdotal evidence that customers come into the store carrying pages they print out from the web site. Whitfield says the popularity of the store-locator function indicates that web sites might be replacing yellow pages ads. Online shoppers who cited the store locator as a top-three use of retail web sites also used the sites to get store hours, directions and other basic store information.