New research from GroupM Search, with research partner Kantar Media Compete, reveals that 86% of buyers who purchase in-store use generic terms on search engines to inform their purchase decision. The study, featuring RadioShack, Audi, and a national entertainment brand, also shows that when a shopper conducts a search online and clicks on a link, 90% of those clicks are on the organic listings of a search engine results page.
Forrester Research projected online retail revenues to be $173 billion in 2010, growing over 40% to reach nearly $250 billion by 2014. Yet for all the projected growth, the online channel will account for just 8% of total retail sales revenue. A deeper look at the numbers confirms that this drastically undervalues the role of the Web in the retail industry, says the GroupM study. Read the rest of this entry »