Moms are Sharp Shopping Machines

I came across the article below and thought it was worth sharing.

Here are some of the highlights:

- 89% of moms surveyed use the internet at least twice a day

- 86% said search engines were the best way to find information

- 70% use search engines before making an ONLINE purchase

- 57% use search engines before making an OFFLINE purchase

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eBiz News: Moms Fuel Search Engine Marketing, Dynamic Reviews
By Michelle Megna
August 30, 2007

This week in Web commerce news, research shows that moms are super-searchers when it comes to online shopping and are spending more than men, while two companies partner up to provide user-review technology to e-tailers and a third announces the release of shipping and tax updates to its e-commerce platform.

DoubleClick Performics recently released data resulting from a usage study targeting “moms.” The study, completed in cooperation with Microsoft and ROI Research, showed that of the nearly 1,000 moms surveyed, 89 percent use the Internet at least twice a day, and 90 percent have been using it for more than seven years. Eighty-six percent of respondents said search engines are the most efficient way to find information.

Market to Moms to Make More Money
The study also revealed that moms are heavy search engine users when it comes to both online and offline purchases, coordinating travel and many other planning activities. Stuart Larkins, vice president of search for DoubleClick Performics, said in a statement, “We gained a much better understanding of just how much moms rely on search engines to accomplish a wide range of tasks, literally on a daily basis.”

To that end, the survey showed that:

• Seventy percent use search engines to gather information before making any online purchase
• Fifty-seven percent use search engines to gather information before making any offline purchase
• Sixty-four percent use search engines to find out where to purchase products offline
• Seventy-six percent spend one hour or more per day using the Internet, and 36 percent spend three or more hours per day
• Respondents are heavy Internet users: 89 percent are online twice a day or more, and over two-thirds (69 percent) say their average online session lasts 16 minutes or more
• Eighty-six percent feel that search engines are the best way to find information, and 89 percent always start with the same search engine
• Eighty-two percent will modify and search again if the initial results do not provide what they are looking for, and nearly two-thirds will view multiple results pages before abandoning a search
• Fifty-seven percent primarily search using a browser toolbar
• Forty percent say they will try a different search engine if their first search is unsuccessful

With regard to purchases made in the eight product categories under study, 92 percent of respondents say search engines were helpful in providing valuable information prior to purchasing, and 79 percent say the same for the offline purchases they made. Seventy-two percent compared prices on consumer goods, while seventy-one percent used search engines to find retail locations.

The demographics of the respondents were as follows: participants are highly educated and affluent, between the ages of 35 and 49, with 60 percent having college or higher education and about one-third having household incomes of $100,000 or more; 46 percent of the moms are employed, with 26 percent employed full-time and 20 percent working part-time; a third have a single child, while 40 percent have two children.

In other online shopper demographic profiling, the coupon site Gogoshopper revealed that women are now spending more than men, with overall online spend increasing significantly over the past two years. According to the site, beauty and jewelery merchants have also seen strong growth, with analysts attributing this trend toward increased confidence among consumers in completing more expensive transactions online.

Next Generation Storefront: Dynamic User Reviews
In social commerce news, PowerReviews and Endeca Technologies, Inc., have entered into a partnership to enhance the online shopping experience by updating the latter’s Guided Navigation technology.

The joint venture now allows shoppers to narrow product selection based on their specific lifestyles, intended uses and desired pros and cons in the product. The resulting experience, according to the companies, offers a preview of the “next generation storefront,” and is designed to boost conversion rates, increase customer satisfaction and provide competitive differentiation compared to sites that simply offer product page level reviews.

Customer reviews and ratings have become an integral part of online shopping decisions — 71 percent of online shoppers read reviews before they purchase a product online, based on a recent Forrester Research study. In addition, customer reviews and ratings are rated the No.1 most helpful Web site feature in making informed product decisions, with 92 percent of customers finding them extremely or very helpful in making online shopping decisions, according to an April 2006 study by the eTailing group and J.C. Williams Consultancy.

With that in mind, the partner companies say social navigation is an emerging capability that leverages user-generated content reviews, opinions, recommendations and posts to create new ways to explore, find and analyze information. In the case of Endeca and PowerReviews, this is achieved by leveraging user-generated tags (pros, cons and best uses of products reviewed using PowerReviews) combined with product characteristics (price, brand, specifications) to present a cohesive and comprehensive collection of refinements and navigation options. This is made possible using Endeca’s core MDEX Engine technology, which takes PowerReviews’ ever-changing user-review content and displays dynamic refinements with the speed and flexibility to allow shoppers to choose the path that suits them best, according to the two firms.

The first live example of this tag-based approach to social navigation can be seen on PowerReviews’ shopping research portal Buzzillions.com. The portal demonstrates customer-guided shopping, utilizing the combined capabilities of PowerReviews and Endeca. For instance, the Digital Camera page on Buzzillions.com illustrates how shoppers can find a digital camera that is ideally suited to them based on their photography lifestyle, interests and intended camera uses. With just a few clicks, the consumer answers questions relating to his affinity group (people like him), intended uses, pros he is seeking and cons he would like to avoid, and narrows the product selection from 536 digital cameras to a handful to look at more closely.

Quick Release Features with RAD
Finally this week in e-commerce news, MarketLive introduced its Rapid Application Development (RAD) technology, which enables e-tailers to quickly upgrade features at their sites. The company just released a “quick view” roll-over feature, en estimated tax and shipping calculator and a global shopping cart using the RAD system.

“Before, under the old process, it took a long time to develop and customize features,” said Ken Burke, founder and chairman of MarketLive, “but now we can release modules for new functionality every two to four weeks, and our clients can install it in 20 minutes, test it, and they’re good to go.”

Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.

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