Why People Buy The Digital Stuff They Buy
What influences consumer buying decisions when it comes to electronics? The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) took a look at three different purchasing venues — discount stores, specialty stores and the Internet.
Among the mass media, Internet advertising is second only to broadcast television networks in influence, surpassing magazines, newspapers, direct mail and radio.
How Do Buyers Decide On Product?
|
Adults 18+ |
Discount Store |
Specialty Store |
Internet |
TV/Broadcast |
27.7% |
31.1% |
33.2% |
28.5% |
Internet Ads |
26.1% |
27.7% |
30.1% |
35.7% |
Email Ads |
25.3% |
24.9% |
29.3% |
35.9% |
Direct Mail |
22.4% |
22.6% |
23.5% |
20.4% |
Magazines |
19.7% |
18.4% |
22.5% |
26.8% |
Cable |
18.9% |
20.5% |
22.2% |
20% |
Newspapers |
18.9% |
18.6% |
22.2% |
17% |
Radio |
17.5% |
18.8% |
18.1% |
13.4% |
Social Media |
14.2% |
16.4% |
15.7% |
14.4% |
“Broadcast, cable, newspapers and other media certainly play a role in influencing shoppers seeking consumer electronics, but the diversity of media it takes to truly reach buyers is eye-opening,” notes Sherrill Mane, senior vice president/Research, Analytics, and Measurement. “A close look at the findings reveals that digital is a key part of the ad buy puzzle when it comes to selling electronics. Most consumers who are in the market for HDTVs, home audio set-ups and the like are clearly a tech-savvy group, and that fact needs to be kept top-of-mind when trying to reach them as they consider their next major purchase.”
Additional findings include:
>> Coupons – With “Specialty Store” electronics shoppers leading the pack, all three groups over-indexed on declaring email coupons to be a compelling retail motivator. Web coupons also were cited as a strong driver among all three, headed by Internet electronics shoppers.
>> Online Searching – Ad inserts are more likely to trigger an online search among specialty-store and discount-store electronics purchases. Newspaper is a much stronger search trigger for specialty-store electronic shoppers.
>> Research Before Purchase – Internet electronics shoppers are much more likely to research products online before purchasing in a store.
>> QR Codes – Internet and discount-store electronics purchasers are more inclined to have downloaded QR Code apps than their specialty-store counterparts.