Does Online Consumer Behaviour make the Internet the New Employee of the Month?

A little while ago, the good video marketing experts over at ReelSeo published a post on “Youtube Window Shopping“. It was an interesting read about online consumer behaviour and how many people are spending cold nights at home looking at products and gadgets online instead of going to the mall or store.

It makes a lot of sense – I know I’ve done it countless times. You can have multiple tabs open, compare products, read reviews, do searches, and this is all done with great privacy and without a salesman working off commission trying to convince you otherwise.

In fact, even more, interestingly, is the idea that people are going to stores and still consulting the internet.

In the article it writes:

75% of smartphone shoppers plan to use their phones in-store this holiday season.

It used to be that shoppers came to the store with little knowledge, and the sales associate educated them on products. Now shoppers are coming into stores teeming with information, and are turning to their phones as personal shopping assistants.

And according to a Google Mobile In-Stores study in May 2013, one in three shoppers use their smartphones to find info instead of asking store employees.

Truth be told, this also makes sense. Hell, I’ve done that a couple of times. Consult the ol’ iPhone for a quick impartial review.

So we go towards the big question we try to answer every blog…

So what?

Well, in terms of society, it seems that we are moving towards a more informed general public. People are now making choices they want to make, rather than due to asymmetrical information.

On the other hand, for companies, this means that persuasive salesman will falter in face of a honest one. ReelSEO says that the “savvy retailers are turning this into an opportunity” but do not explain why so we’ll take a gander.

We say this.

Saavy retailers should take advantage of this phenomenon by investing more resources into their web presence and making sure that their reviews online are positive. You see it already being gamed on apps like Yelp where companies are literally paying money for good reviews. It seems the next step for things like electronics and toys is the same. When someone is in a store comparing two different types of headphones, the smart retailer will have not only their product come up, but with good ratings as well.

How will video advertising help?

Well, it says that 57% of people rely on product videos when making a decision. Even if the number is inflated, there is something to be deduced from this fact. That is, product videos mean a lot to consumers when they make decisions. They want to hear the company sell the item – tell me what’s so good about this product, instead of some random guy at the store.  They want to learn about the major points of the product – and not just the opinion of some part-time worker at a store.

Helping customers make informed decisions is the future. You can try to hide behind brand awareness and big fancy names but in the land of the internet, information is king.