While word of mouth has always played a key role in consumers’ purchase decisions, a new study from Toronto-based digital strategy firm Delvinia entitled “The Social Shopper” says the internet has increased its power 10-fold.
The study found that 65% of Canadians currently seek out consumer reviews and recommendations when conducting pre-purchase research online, second only to research on pricing (84.9%) and ahead of research on product details such as capabilities and size (62.4%).
While acknowledging this can make brands “uncomfortable” because it requires them to cede control of their message, the Delvinia study noted that peer reviews enable shoppers to gather “rich insight” into goods and services with minimal effort while delivering rich consumer feedback to brand managers.
The Delvinia report called online research an “integral part” of the shopping experience, and described today’s “digitally-inclined” consumers as a lens into the future of the retail experiences.
“Retailers need to find out what proportion of their customers are highly social users of technology, and from there they can determine the urgency of integrating digital technologies into their customer experience,” the report states.
Understanding the retail experience through the eyes of these consumers will provide a glimpse into the future of all customers, it said.
Based on findings from Delvinia’s proprietary AskingCanadians online research panel, the study identified seven key trends among so-called “social shoppers”:
• Digital dominates pre-purchase research
• Product categories influence pre-purchase behaviour
• Price is the top consideration
• Offline channels are still preferred for confirming availability
• Consumers reviews are the preferred choice for vetting products
• Appetite for social content extends to mobile
• Consumers are increasingly clicking in-store
The report suggested that using the internet is preferred for all aspects of the shopping cycle except for the direct purchasing of a product, where only 13% of respondents cite it as the most effective means of completing the task.
More than half (51%) of respondents named the internet as their preferred method for comparing prices, compared with 42% of respondents who preferred to compare prices in-store; 49% cited it as their preferred method for gathering information about the general product type and 55% said they preferred it for gathering specific information about a particular product.
Mobile devices are also playing an increasingly important role in the purchase decision, said the Delvinia report, with nearly one in five Canadians now using the devices to find product recommendations (a number that rises to 40% when only iPhone users are included).
The study found that 32.5% of smartphone users have used their device to take a picture of a product in a store, while 26.6% have used it to locate a store carrying the product and 24.9% have used it to gather information about a general product type.
