The survey was commissioned by Google to understand the purchasing patterns of 14.5 million digital lifestyle consumers in the three markets. In April, Netpop surveyed the purchasing patterns of 1,014 consumers over the age of 18, who had purchased a digital lifestyle product during the previous six months.
The key finding of the study was that people use the internet more than any other source at each step of the product research and purchase process - from interest to evaluation to price or feature comparisons and even to the final decision on what and where to buy.
Another important finding was that the vast majority of digital lifestyle products are purchased in retail stores, few are purchased online. Consumers prefer to see, feel and touch the products, place heavy emphasis on good in-store customer service and are conscious of incurring extra shipping costs.
Lori Sobel, managing director of Google Southeast Asia, said: "These study results underscore the importance for retailers, marketers and ad agencies to put more emphasis on online marketing activities to reach consumers and influence the entire purchasing process. Another effective strategy is to tightly integrate their online marketing activities with their offline marketing activities to maximise retail store sales."
