Most Shoppers Browse Online Before Buying In-Store

More than half of shoppers visit a retailer’s website or app before making an in-store purchase, according to new research.

According to a survey from Google and Purchased, a shopping insights firm, 58 percent of consumers said they used a retailer’s website or app before making an in-store purchase; 54 percent of those surveyed said they used a search engine; and 53 percent of those surveyed said they visited a store or some other location to find out more about the product.

Interestingly enough, when consumers were looking for information on a product or a local store’s location, only 34 percent of them visited a retailer’s app or website. But when they were making a purchasing decision, 71 percent of them visited a retailer’s app or website.

Using a search engine remained popular when it came to looking up purchasing information (81 percent), finding a local store or business (69 percent) or making a purchasing decision (64 percent).

Websites or apps outside of the retailer’s native ones were visited 55 percent of the time when consumers wanted information about a product, 36 percent of the time when they were looking for a store or business and 42 percent of the time when they were trying to make a purchasing decision.

Visiting a physical retail store did not rank too highly on any list of consumer preferences, as only 41 percent of consumers did it before making a purchasing decision and only 9 percent did so to find out more about a product.

Twenty-six percent of consumers used social media to find out more information about a product, and 13 percent of them used it when making a purchasing decision.

The study surveyed 1,000 shoppers 18 and older.