What Influences Consumers to Make a Purchase?
According to ERA’s most recently commissioned paper, Mapping the Path to Purchase, Forrester Research suggests that television drives online sales. Indeed, 44 percent of the study’s respondents went to retail to find a product they saw on an infomercial or home shopping channel and more than one-third of consumers visit engines (eBay, Yahoo, Google, etc.) to compare prices, with more than 50 percent of those making a purchase.
But wait, there’s more; now it’s the consumers themselves who are creating pathways and signposts. It’s interesting, looking at the apparent quick rise of the “consumer influencer.” It seems just yesterday when branding was king and PR, marketing, research and agencies pushed sales. But today, through the power of blogs, online communities, forums, boards, videos on YouTube, Facebook and more, customers are definitely in charge.
I wonder what retailers think about how this will all shake out? How do retailers leverage those consumer influencers?
Sieglinde Friedman is ERA’s vice president of strategy
Tags: consumer influencers, consumers, ERA, facebook, forrester research, Infomercials, purchase, retailers, sieglinde friedman, youtube