The report, conducted with the help of Ipsos and Conifer Research, confirmed that most purchases are still made offline, at brick-and-mortar stores, but that consumers use the Web to research products.
"The Internet, along with related technologies like camera phones and text messaging, have given consumers a new kind of 'social empowerment' as they gather information before they shop. More than two-thirds of shoppers across several product categories still make the bulk of their purchases at physical retail locations--yet nearly two-thirds (62 percent) use a combination of online and offline sources to gather information before they buy," Yahoo said in a statement explaining the report.
Of course, that information is consistent with a plethora of retail statistics. But the more intriguing question--and far harder one to answer--is exactly how the Web affects particular purchases.
The Yahoo-OMD study has no hard-and-fast answer to that question--and maybe there simply won't ever be an answer. In some ways, even posing the question appears analogous to asking how to determine return on investment from branding campaigns--a notoriously difficult, if not impossible, endeavor.
Meanwhile, Yahoo and OMD did break out some new facts shedding light on ways in which consumers gather information online. The report, based on a recent survey of more than 4,300 U.S. adults, and qualitative research with 13 participants, stated that 27 percent of respondents have posted new-product reviews, and 16 percent read reviews before making a purchase. And more than half--55 percent--said they signed up to receive e-mail from stores or companies they regularly buy from, while 46 percent have signed up for e-mail regarding discounts for products they want to purchase.