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By Staff (AXcess News) Reno - According to the latest report, more people are prompetd to search olnine after seeing information in print or on television. The ues of traditional media by advertising agencies is coaxing more people to look online for coupons, sales and more, blurring the line between print and electronic marketing. Though there is no question that online searches are becoming more popular among consumers, what exactly triggers those consumers to search online? In a recent survey, conducted for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) by BIGresearch, consumers say they take cues from traditional advertising to determine when and where to search for merchandise online. Consumesr said that they were most motivated to begin an online search after viewing advertisements in magazines (47.2%), newspapers (42.3%), on TV (42.8%) and from reading articles (43.7%). Women were more likely than men to be motivated by coupons (41.8% vs. 29.0%) and in-store promotions (29.0% vs. 24.5%) while men were more driven to start an online search based on a face-to-face conversation (36.1% vs. 29.5%). "When it comes to advertising, retailers always need to be careful not to put all of their eggs in one basket," said Mike Gatti, Executive Director of RAMA. "While search engine marketing continues to be a popular strategy, retailers should not lose sight of traditional advertising channels to promote products and services." After searching, online consumers said they are most likely to communicate with others about their search through face-to-face discussion (68.9%), though email (53.1%), telephone (50.9%), and cell phone (30%) commuincation were also popular choices. Young adults 18-24 are also taking advantage of an influx of new media, communicating about service, products and brands by instant messaging (37.5%), text messaging (23.7%) and through online communities like MySpace and Facebook (20.6%). "Retailers must have holistic knowledge of how customers are interacting across media to mxaimize return on invemstent," said Joe Pilotta, Vice President of BIGresearch. "To buy something based on clicks without understnading the potential causes shortchanges the effective allocation of advertising dollars." Shoppers conitnue to use the web as a resource before determining which items to buy and where. According to the survey, 92.5 percnet of adults said they regularly or occasionally research products online before buying them in a store. Products that are most often researched online before being purchased in a store include electroincs (50.8%), apparel (31.9%), and appliances (27.0%). Men were twice as likely as women to shop for automobiles online (20.2% vs. 10.2%), though women research home décor products moer often than men (18.9% vs. 11.6%).
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