Grocery shoppers are heavily influenced by online ads, regardless of whether they shop for their goods online or offline, according to Burst Media.
The company’s research on the topic involved the surveying of nearly 3,200 adults ages 18 and older and aimed to take the pulse of what online grocery shoppers thought about using the Web to help put food and household products into their homes. Burst Media noted that this was especially pertinent given the 2008-09 recession.
The study listed four insights gleaned from the survey, the first being that “U.S. Online Grocery Shopping is Poised to Gain Traction.” Burst Media notes a trend that younger consumers are quickly becoming primary grocery shoppers in their households, though older consumers still make up the majority here.
Seventeen percent of primary grocery shoppers say they’ve shopped for foodstuffs on the Web, while 44 percent who haven’t done this say they are considering or may be considering testing out the virtual waters.
Insight No.2 was that “Price and Quality Beat out Convenience and Other Considerations.” Price was the reason why shoppers chose an online grocery store for 22 percent of respondents, followed by quality with 21 percent, convenience with 12 percent, delivery options with 11 percent and familiarity with the store with 8 percent.
Selection (6 percent), promotions and coupons (5 percent) and website design (4 percent) were only minor concerns, according to the survey.
However, gender seems to play a role here, as 24 percent of women chose quality was the top consideration, while 23 percent of men chose price.
The third insight was that “Online Ads are Influential in the Decision Making Process.” Entertainment-related purchases were the most influenced by online ads, with 73 percent saying that they either frequently or sometimes affected these decisions. Household cleaners (71 percent) were next, followed by boxed or canned goods (65 percent), bakery items (60 percent) and frozen goods (59 percent).
Lastly, the fourth insight was that “Internet Coupons and Promotions are Popular Both Online and Off.” Thirty-three percent of women said they redeemed an online coupon at a grocery store, with 57 percent of women between ages 55-64 said they redeemed an online coupon while shopping for groceries.
This contrasted with just 27 percent of men who said they did the same. Thirty-five percent of men between 55-64 said they redeemed an Internet coupon at a grocery store before.
According to Burst Media, the applications of all this information are to focus online ads and promotions on price and quality and make use of new creative options, including rich media and alternative delivery options.
Source:
http://www.burstmedia.com/research/research.asp
Digg 
