Most online shoppers use search engines
18 May 2004
Over half of all online shoppers start their shopping at a shopping search engine or aggregator site, according to a new survey.
Shopping search and comparison site BizRate.com found that 54 per cent of buyers used search sites to start their spree, while just 46 per cent started at a merchant site.
The March 2004 study showed that online consumer behaviour had shifted eight percentage points in just 15 months, tipping the balance in favour of aggregators and shopping search engines.
In December, 2002 aggregators, which include comparison shopping sites, search engines, shopping portals and auction sites, accounted for just 46 per cent of sales leads, the Search Engine Journal reports.
A spokesman for BizRate.com said: "The internet created price competition which consumers love. But merchants also love the role search engines and comparison sites have played in their businesses.
"The shopping search engines draw millions of customers to their sites. To get this same shopping traffic, individual retailers would have to spend millions. But instead they save marketing expense and get great volumes of leads from the aggregators."
BizRate.com surveyed over 3,800 online buyers for the report.
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