According to a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, one of the most neglected trends out there is around information-based shopping and purchasing – giving rise to the Info Shopper.
They are suspicious of advertising and search online for virtually everything to get the information they need. 92% of the people surveyed said that they have more confidence in the information they found this way then being spoon fed it. Even for products like vacuum cleaner, 58% of people said they would research it online first and are asking questions such as “how much does this hold before empyting it?” or “is this light enough for someone small to carry it up the stairs?” 70% say they consult reviews and ratings before making any buying decisions.
Looking at this data, you can see that brands and websites need to think of different ways to get people the information and the confidence they need to make their own buying decisions. The WSJ goes on to say that information aggregation sites will become increasingly more important and especially so for helping weave the story and fit into the customer buying decision process.
This is a huge shift going on… think where it could lead!
I’ve just been reading an article in AdAge about how Sephora is simplifying the product review process by letting people read reviews on their mobile phones. In some retailers in the US, they are actively encouraging people to look at products in the store then actively read the reviews about them on their phones. Our old friends BazaarVoice are powering the platform.
So, I completely agree that product reviews from people like you and expert reviews and advice are increasingly more important in making a buying decision, but I’m not convinced this behaviour can be adapted easily for a mobile phone setting. For a start, they have to get our their basic handset and browse to a “mobile” site to enter the product name / code, then filter through the crap results to hopefully find what they wanted, then click it and read some tiny reviews on a small screen – all in a matter of hours!
I’ve seen this try and work before back in 2002, and yes, times have advanced but people couldn’t be bothered then so what makes us think can they be bothered now? Even scanning the barcode of an item is probably not as straightforward as it seems. The only light on the horizon for mobile phone reviews might be through the smart phones like the iphone – but honestly answer me this:
Are there really any downsides to writing down the name of the product you like on a piece of paper then researching and buying it online back at a computer?
Hurray – we’ve finally got our much improved site out there for Crowdstorm UK and Crowdstorm USA
We’re concentrating on making it stable now, ironing out the remaining 67 bugs, and ensuring the speed is high enough. If you see any bugs or want to make some general feedback – use the green link at the top of the page, fill in your comments, then press submit. We’re not making a big fuss about this one as we’ve still lots of things to do to it.
You’ll notice we’re now importing a lot more content in user reviews and expert reviews, and we’ve got a few deals to announce in the next few weeks. Also – welcome to our new Television and DVD Player categories!
Key things still to do:
Lastly, as mentioned above – this is a quiet release and we don’t want anyone blogging it in the current format, if you don’t mind. Ta very much.
Predictions out on monday from the Advertising Association and World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) and published on StrategyEye – stating that UK online ad revenues could hit £21.97 billion by 2019, up from £15.98 billion in 2007. Now that is some long-term prediction from those people with the crystal ball!
It actually does make sense even in the short term as even if you believe the “predicted” downturn in the global economies, online ad spend is most likely to actually increase as advertisers look to place their money in the most cost effective and trackable channel – the internet.
Look for ongoing increases in display ads, online classifieds, search marketing, and vertical-niche channels.
Have a great holiday and we’ll be back in the new year with a whole heap of announcements. Thanks for everyone’s support this year – we couldn’t have done it without you.
Oh, and remember you can always come to Crowdstorm UK or Crowdstorm USA when you’ve got your gifts and want to tell the world how good or bad they are!
