June 29, 2012
More than 14.2 million Australians aged 14-plus now do some kind of online activity in an average four-week period, according to the latest Roy Morgan research.
“Communication” is the most popular online activity but “marketplace” activities, ie. “Buying, Selling, Shopping” (the green line in the chart below), has shown the most dramatic increase in recent years, up by 167 per cent since 2008, to 7.8 million.
More than 4 out of 10 Australians aged 14-plus now do one or more “Buying, Selling, Shopping” activities online in an average four-week period.
Types of internet activities done in an average four week period, 2008-2012 – Australians 14+
Looking at the different online activities that make up this fast-growing ‘Buying, Selling, Shopping’ category, the most common are:
- Made an online purchase (done by nearly 5.5 million Australians aged 14-plus in an average four weeks);
- Researched a product or service to buy (done by nearly 5.1 million);
- Other pre-purchase research (eg. Read ratings/reviews of products/services before purchase; read online catalogues / classified ads; used price comparison websites), done by 3.4 million.
Millions who do these ‘Buying, Selling, Shopping’ activities (in an average 4 weeks) – 2011 versus 2012
“Researched a product or service to buy” is the second most popular online “Buying, Selling, Shopping” activity, but is the fastest growing, with the number of Australians aged 14-plus who do this in an average four weeks increasing by 50 per cent in the past 12 months alone.
This highlights the increasing popularity among consumers of doing pre-purchase research online as part of their “path to purchase”.
Although still relatively small (in terms of the number of people who do this in an average four weeks), the number of Australians 14-plus who “purchased something as a result of advice from a social network” has increased by 19 per cent compared with the previous year.
“The number of people using the internet to research products and services represents a huge opportunity for brands. Online is now a key source for consumers seeking information on products or services to buy, and for many it is now the destination for all pre-purchase research,” Roy Morgan Research Industry Director – Media George Pesutto said.
“This has real implications for marketers in terms of understanding the consumer’s path to purchase and the roles that the internet plays throughout this process – from pre-purchase research, to buying, to posting product reviews online and facilitating word-of-mouth via social media.
“Encouraging consumer engagement through word-of-mouth recommendations and product reviews has become increasingly important for brands, with a growing number of consumers turning to online ratings/reviews of products as part of their buying process.
“Building a strong brand is now more important than ever, to help drive consumers to seek out your products/services in the online marketplace.
“A brand’s online presence is critical. It should be easy for consumers to find you when they’re doing pre-purchase research online but perhaps more so is the need for a brand to already be in the consumer’s consideration set prior to commencing any product research.”
