Here a fresh little stat from our friends over at About.com that speaks to the continued changes that are happening in consumer behavior as a result of the core re-wiring that many shoppers have gone through as part of the economic downturn.
Being in the business of "selling" against this ROBO shopping behavior value proposition, having a 30% increase is awesome news for anyone that has "bought" into this consumer behavior.
As more people become comfortable with the concept of social media they begin to venture into the social media waters. At first it may be a little usage of LinkedIn for business connections, then a little dabling with Facebook and before they know it they are full blown social junkies with tweets and re-tweets on Twitter.
Pew Internet recently released it’s social networking report Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009. They found that there are three primary groups of internet users that are driving the growth of social media: social network website users, mobile/smart phone users, and users under the age of 44.
Perhaps the most exciting piece of information in the study is the average age of social network users. The release of the Pew Internet study set the internet abuzz, and spawned the Twitter trending topics of “Facebook 33″ “Twitter 31″ and “Myspace 26.” Twitter users commented on the topic and re-tweeted “The average age of social media users are as follows: Linkedln 39; Twitter 31; MySpace 26; Facebook 33.”
For more in-depth information I’ll refer you to Sarah Perez’s article at Read Write Web.
Masha Sajdeh of Arc Worldwide presented a great piece of brand new multichannel research at the In-Store Marketing Expo that took place here in Chicago last week. This studies methodology and sample was a solid:
- 3 countries
- 5,609 respondents
- 60 minute online survey
- 20 categories of products examined
- 10 unique channels probed
The entire Arc multichannel study is worth a careful read, but due to it’s length (57 pages) we’ll only examine a few portions that pertain to better understand which channel different types of multichannel shoppers are using and why.
For those not familuar with the concept of what multichannel shopping is all about, this is a great visual explanation.
So first let’s examine a few of the insights uncovered around how much time different multichannel shoppers spend per channel on a monthly basis. Surprisingly, the circular is the channel that showed the highest usage across all of the different types of mutlichannel shoppers (excluding a retailer’s own web site and store).
Note how the circular across all types of multichannel shoppers plays a critical role in adding the shopping process.
If we take a closer look at just the medium and heavy mutlichannel shoppers, the picture becomes even more stark. A retailer’s own web site and physical store are used heavily and fairly equally by both types. However the usage pattern around circulars is very different with heavy multichannel shoppers (arguable the most desirable and profitable type of shopper) using the circulars 95% of the time, which is higher than the retailer’s own web site. Even the more moderate mutlichannel shoppers are using the circulars at pretty hefty rates of 61%, which when again compared to a retailer’s own web site usage of 69% clearly demonstrates the continued importance of the circular to multichannel shoppers.
Wow, circulars are nearly as used by heavy multichannel shoppers as a retailers own physical stores!
Finally let’s try to get to the bottom of the ‘why’ – in this case, the ‘why’ is what causes these multichannel shoppers to use which channel when. Not surprising, circulars are all about saving money. Catalogs on the other hand are all about providing shoppers with inspiration.
Every single channel has a unique use and value proposition to a multichannel shopper.
In a revealing study, Nielsen found that affluent, suburban shoppers are the most likely to be heavy users of coupons (data captured via Nielsen Homescan Panel).
- More affluent consumers ($70k+) are considered super heavy coupon2 users (39
percent compared to 35 percent for total U.S. households) and coupon enthusiasts
(42 percent compared to 35 percent for total U.S. households.)
- Other serious coupon users include those from large households, those
households with female heads age 54 and younger, as well as consumers living in
affluent suburban3 and comfortable country4 spreads.
- Those likely to be low or non-coupon users: low-income, 1-member households,
male-only head of households, African-Americans and Hispanic consumers,
residents in rural and struggling urban areas.
- The largest groups of coupon users are the super low and low users5,
accounting for 31 percent of households. Just under one-third (32 percent) of
all U.S. households didn`t use any coupons during the first half of 2009.
The recession drove heavier coupon usage as lighter coupon users in 2008
became heavier users in 2009.
- Consumers show stronger coupon use in edible departments and this is
particularly true among the coupon enthusiasts, with 85 percent of their coupon
unit purchases in edible departments (compared to 80 percent for total coupon
users) and 15 percent of coupon unit purchases in non-food and health and beauty
(vs. 20 percent for total coupon users).
Story via Reuters
ROBO (research online, buy offline) type shopping is the core premise that ShopLocal is built upon. The team has tried many different tactics over the years to measure the effects of this marketplace principle. From May 14th thru June 21 of 2009, ShopLocal concluded yet another nine (9) question survey based analysis of web2store shopping. We got 24 large US retailers to participate which equated to 9,656 normal, everyday consumers fully completing the survey. Below are the results.
Question 1. Did you read this week’s print Circular/Weekly Ad? (Found in your local newspaper or at the store.)
Question 2. How often do you visit our store?
- Several times a week: 16%
- Once a week: 22%
- Two or three times a month: 30%
- Once a month: 21%
- Once or twice a year: 11%
- Never: 2%
Question 3. After viewing the online Circular/Weekly Ad, are you more or less likely to visit our store in the next week?
- Much more likely: 30%
- More likely: 40%
- About the same: 25%
- Less likely: 3%
- Much less likely: 3%
Question 4. Have you visited the online Circular/Weekly Ad before?
Question 5. Which of the following statements describes the reason(s) you visited the online Circular/Weekly Ad? (check all that apply)
- I am looking for new specials/deals before visiting my local store: 66%
- I am looking for new specials/deals before making a purchase online: 11%
- I am researching a specific product that I want to purchase: 19%
- I am deciding whether to visit my local store: 17%
- I am comparison shopping across multiple retailers: 17%
- I am not looking for anything in particular, but I like to browse the new specials/deals: 14%
- Other, please specify: 9%
Question 6. Were you planning on making a purchase in our store before visiting the online Circular/Weekly Ad?
Question 7. How often do you visit the online Circular/Weekly Ad?
- Every day: 2%
- Several times a week: 11%
- Once a week: 30%
- Two or three times a month: 16%
- Once every two or three months: 11%
- This is my first time: 30%
Question 8. How often have you made a purchase from our website after visiting the online Circular/Weekly Ad?
- Very often: 5%
- Often: 7%
- Sometimes: 15%
- Rarely: 16%
- Very rarely: 58%
Question 9. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being never, 5 being neutral, and 10 being always, how likely is it that you would recommend the online Circular/Weekly Ad to a friend or relative?
- Never (1): 4%
- Very Seldom (2): 2%
- Somewhat Not Likely (3): 2%
- Probably Not (4): 2%
- Neutral (5): 26%
- Probably Would (6): 8%
- Good Chance (7): 12%
- Somewhat likely (8): 16%
- Very Likely (9): 8%
- Always (10): 19%
AVERAGE SCORE: 6.8
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(4.00 out of 5)
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