• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 1, 2011

More than ever, money is on consumers’ minds -- a fact clearly reflected in their online searching and surfing activity.

In the automotive category, for instance, more site visitors came to research price and fewer came to research vehicle features in the third quarter than in the second quarter, according to new data from iPerceptions.

Data from the report shows that the proportion of visitors who came to research price increased from 29.3% in the second quarter to 30.3% in Q3 2011. Conversely, the share of visitors who came to research features fell from 29.7% to 28.1%, quarter-over-quarter.

“The recent European dept crisis rattled U.S. consumers and is likely a key factor causing the change in automotive purchasing patterns this past quarter,” said Claude Guay, president and CEO of the analytics firm.

How should ecommerce and product review sites -- particularly in the auto sector -- respond to this trend? 

“Enhanced price sensitivity and longer purchase horizons mean that automotive Web sites need to ensure that pricing information is communicated to visitors in a clear and concise manner,” Guay said. “This will not only meet the needs of an important segment of visitors, but also help boost overall satisfaction for all visitors.”

The report from iPerceptions also found that purchase decision-making has lengthened and fewer visitors were close to making a purchase in the third quarter of the year.

Specifically, those shoppers seeking to purchase a new vehicle in the next three months decreased from 34.0% in second quarter to 32.8% in the third quarter.

This decrease, according to iPerceptions, was accompanied by an increase in visitors farther along in the purchase process -- such as buyers looking to purchase in six months or more, which grew from 33.8% to 34.6% quarter-over-quarter.

The report analyzes real-time feedback from nearly 50,000 people visiting 20 North American automotive brand Web sites -- and nearly 6,000 people visiting 72 international automotive retail sites -- to identify the most important issues and trends facing the industry.