Multi-channel shoppers responding more to e-marketing

Consumers are using e-retailers for purchases more frequently than ever before, and are increasingly influenced by electronic marketing campaigns, according to the '2006 Electronic Retailing Buyer Study' from the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA).

The study found that e-retailing has become an increasingly reliable vehicle for driving repeat sales, and suggests that there is strong evidence debunking the idea that electronic marketing harms branding efforts.

Technology
However, the survey also found a degree of timidity among consumers toward emerging marketing technologies such as interactive television and mobile phone-based video, although the popularity of these technologies continues to grow among younger consumers.

Trust
Of particular concern to direct-to-consumer retailers and marketers may be the survey data showing that consumer trust in the internet and TV infomercials has fallen since 2005, as consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with the security of using credit or debit cards online and over the telephone.

Highlights
Key findings of the report included:

• The proportion of adults using electronic retailing channels remains at 46% for the second year in a row, with an average e-shopper age of 47.1 years and a median income of US$56,983, and roughly half claiming a college degree.
   
• 50% of consumers said they have watched an infomercial in the past three months.
   
• More than half of all e-retail shoppers said they would definitely consider purchasing again through electronic retailing channels in the future.
   
• Over 70% of radio, home shopping and television infomercial buyers said they use multiple electronic retailing sources to purchase products, while the use of multiple channels was least common among online consumers.
   
• For marketers and retailers, cross promotion is vital: 60% of online consumers, 42% of radio buyers, 32% of TV infomercial consumers, and 21% of home shopping consumers said they saw the product promoted in another medium (most commonly in stores or catalogues, through TV commercials, magazines or newspaper ads) before actually buying it.

Working with Ellison Research, the ERA tracks consumer buying behaviour across multiple marketing channels and gauges the effectiveness of various e-marketing campaigns every year. The results of this year's study were extrapolated from a random sample of 600 respondents.