81 Percent Plan to Shop Online

A study by IntelliQuest Information Group of consumers’ e-commerce activities and plans has found that 81 percent of those surveyed intend to shop or buy online in the next 12 months.

The Ebranding^TM survey represents responses from more than 10,000 randomly recruited Internet users, quantifying their online shopping and buying habits, preferences, and brand perceptions.

Awareness levels were measured for more than 400 different branded sites and products, with side-by-side comparisons completed for 80 brands within nine market categories.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed have shopped online, but only 22 percent have purchased online in the last 90 days. The results within specific product categories are even more dramatic, with three to five times more people intending to shop or buy than are currently shopping.

The study found that “center of gravity” for category brand leadership varies greatly based on the maturity and complexity of the products or services. For example, unaided awareness of places to shop for computers is greatest for hardware manufacturers such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM, owing to the systems-centric nature of the marketplace.

In book and music retailing, brand power rests with the specialty distribution outlets such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, the study said. In the high-ticket and complex markets, such as cars and travel, the study found that portals such as Yahoo and AOL are most often mentioned as places where consumers shop.

[IC_ARTICLE_OBJECT [SHOW IC_Article_ID] “table1”] ^*= Among tracked brands Source: Intelliquest