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Shoppers use Web search

By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, January 27, 2008

Chicago — A study of consumer shopping and buying habits points to the central role of Internet search in driving buying decisions and in gathering information before a home furnishings purchase, either online or off.

The study of 1,000 home furnishings consumers with at least one child 18 or younger was conducted by ROI Research, DoubleClick Performics and Microsoft last year. At a confidence level of 95% and a sampling error of just under 5%, the study's results are statistically valid.

Some of its key findings:

Search engines plan a central role in both online and offline purchases.
"Searcher Moms" usually look for specific brands.
Most use search to find out where to purchase items offline.
Nearly three-quarters use search to identify the best price.
Two-thirds access the Internet "many times per day"

According to the study, 72% of the respondents use search engines to gather information before making any online purchase, while 60% also use search before making offline purchases in home furnishings.

Importantly, 69% reported using search to find out where to purchase products offline.

The research suggests that consumers are rewarding information-rich, branded Web sites with store locator information, as well as sites that are mentioned in other advertising. The study found that 68% of respondents use search to find out more about items they first saw in advertising in other media.

"Manufacturers and marketers targeting this audience through any kind of advertising campaign should be sure to integrate a well-planned search campaign," said Scott Haiges, president of ROI Research.

More than half of the respondents are stay-at-home moms, and the findings paint a picture of moms who have a great deal of experience searching and using the Web. More than three-fourths spend at least one hour per day on the Web, while more than one-third of stay-at-home moms report spending three or more hours per day online. These findings point to a need for sophisticated Web presences, the researchers said.

Most respondents said they prefer to buy their furniture in the store. For a six-month period, respondents reported an average of 2.9 purchases offline and 1.8 purchases online.

When asked to indicate what kinds of information they use online search for, 91% listed finding specific manufacturer, retailer or product Web sites, the No. 1-identified goal or need. This finding underscores the importance of having an established brand, either at the product or store level, particularly because two-thirds of respondents said they go to the search engines after seeing an ad, said Stuart Larkins, vice president of search for DoubleClick Performics.

Finding the best price was No. 2 objective for an online search at 75%, while simply gathering information before making an online purchase was identified by 72%. Next most important at 69% was finding where to purchase a product offline.

Consumers' media diets are changing, according to the study. Newspapers were the least-used media, according to the results, while the Internet was the most heavily used.

Respondents were largely college-educated (70%), affluent (38% with $100,000 or more in total household income), and middle-aged (58% were 35 to 49).

For the survey, the product category used was "furniture and home décor." This broad category was not broken down any further, so survey respondents could interpret the terminology a number of ways.

All of the respondents were members of e-Rewards, a panel of exclusively invited consumers. By avoiding open recruitment or participation, e-Rewards excludes the undesirable "professional survey takers" that many other panels include, according to Larkins. The program works with sourcing partners to invite only the types of individuals they are interested in, he said.

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"Searcher moms" use Internet to shop

Jan 16, 2008

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