There has been a lot of talk about how online research and even the use of smart phones in the stores has impacted the shopping habits of people in brick and mortar stores. Rather than just assuming it was all true, Google has recently done some research to figure out what impact these things actually have in reality. They have taken all the data that they gathered and compiled it to help both online and offline retail stores learn just how they can get the best sales results possible.
Not surprisingly, they found that shoppers today are more informed than they ever have been in the past. Of course, the fact that there is an endless amount of information available at their finger tips makes this quite logical. They have also found that people don’t do all their research ahead of time, but instead try to gather up info as they go through the shopping process.
They also disproved a number of things that many people mistakenly believed about this subject. For example, while many say that search engines only direct people to e-commerce sites where they can buy the product. In reality, however, Google found that 3 out of 4 people found information about how and where to buy products locally by using the search engine. This is just one more indication of how important digital advertising is to traditional stores.
They summed up all their research by saying that, “smartphones are a friend, not an enemy, to in-store shopping.” This seems to be very true, as long as the traditional retailers are able to properly get their products or services in front of people who are searching for them. Of course, one of the easiest ways to do this is by using AdWords or other display ad networks.
In addition to the AdWords Insights page linked above, Google also published information about this study on their ‘think with Google’ page, linked HERE.
