We all know that the consumer purchasing process has changed dramatically since the rise of the mobile web and that it continues to evolve rapidly. To understand the current state of this evolving process, CMB surveyed 2,000 tablet buyers in the US. This confirmed several things we expected to see and also debunked a few myths along the way:
« Today online media and advertising are essential to influence consumers .» TRUE:
Reading about tablets online and online advertising are the main ways consumers learn about new brands or products.
Most people CMB surveyed do some type of online research or evaluation before purchasing. They typically do this using online shopping sites (such as Amazon, eBay, etc.), web searches, e-tailer websites, review websites (such as CNET, Engadget, etc.), or the tablet manufacturers' websites.
« The mobile web is becoming increasingly important in the consumer purchasing process .» TRUE:
More than half of buyers use the mobile web when doing their marketing research and evaluation, and nearly 40% of buyers use it in their final purchasing decision (although very few people actually buy a tablet using a mobile device.)
« Mobile apps are becoming very important in nigeria phone number consumer purchasing process ». FALSE
Although the mobile web is now very influential, very few purchases are made from a mobile app. This may be because tablet shopping is not a common occurrence for individual consumers (for more frequent purchases, they prefer a more specialized app to speed up and track them).
» Social media is becoming essential in the consumer purchasing process. » FALSE:
Tablet purchasing is a very “social” thing (i.e. word of mouth and consumer reviews play a big role), but for American tablet buyers very little of this socializing happens on social media platforms.
“ Purchases in retail stores have been significantly reduced .” FALSE:
The rise of online shopping doesn't mean that retail stores are no longer operating in the electronics category. In-store experiences (including talking to the store's sales associate and seeing tablet demos) were among the top sources of influence during the consumer research and evaluation process, regardless of whether consumers ultimately purchased their tablet in a physical store.
Similar to ads, in-store experiences were the primary way consumers learned about new tablet brands and models. 41% of those who learned about new brands and models did so inside a physical store.