Latest findings on Consumer Behavior

Russ Steele

Annenberg School for Communication has been surveying Internet users and have published their lastest findings in  2008 Digital Future Project – Year Seven Report. They have published a summary of key findings on more than 100 major issues here.

The 2008 Digital Future Project found the following about Consumer Behavior:

Who Is Buying Online? -- The number of online purchasers has increased to the highest level in the history of the Digital Future Project, increasing 16 percent since 2006.
Purchasing On The Internet: Spending Per Month -- Sixty percent of Internet users age 18 and older bought online and spent under $100 a month, a large increase over 2006.
How Often Do Online Purchasers Buy Online? -- The average number of annual online purchases for those age 18 and above increased to its peak thus far in the Digital Future Project -- now more than 36 purchases per year.

How Does Buying Online Affect Traditional Retail Purchasing? -- A large percentage of online purchasers reported that their Web purchases have reduced their buying of similar items in retail stores. After a small decline in 2006, the percentage who said that Web purchasing reduced their local retail purchasing somewhat or a lot grew to 67 percent of online purchasers, up from 65 percent in 2006.

Browsing For Products: Retail Stores Vs. The Internet -- Large percentages of respondents report using both the Internet and retail stores for browsing and purchasing. Seventy-one percent of Internet purchasers said they sometimes or often browse in traditional retail locations and then buy online. Even higher percentages of respondents said they use the Internet as a merchandise browsing tool before buying in stores.

Privacy: Concerns When Buying Online -- Privacy and security online have been found to be major concerns in each of the seven Digital Future studies. Almost all respondents have reported concerns about the privacy of their personal information when or if they buy on the Internet. The percentage of all respondents who reported the highest level of concern increased in 2007, and overall concern was the highest since the first year of the Digital Future Project.

Privacy: Comparing Concerns Among Non-Purchasers Vs. Purchasers -- Although the percentage of all users who report the highest level of concern continues to be quite large, comparing Internet purchasers to non-purchasers shows that online buyers report much lower levels of concern.

Credit Card Information: Are Concerns Stabilizing? -- Concerns about credit card security when or if buying online continue to remain high among respondents in the Digital Future Project.
Although the percentage of those with the highest level of concern about credit card information increased slightly to 57 percent, the overall levels of concern have stabilized over the four most current years of the study -- and at a much lower level than when this issue was first tracked in 2001.

As the ERC struggles to develop an economic development strategy, they need to understand these changes in consumer behavior.  More people are going on line to chose what to buy and where they will buy products of interest. You can down load the full summary of the report here.