Google reveals purchasing habits with 2014 Consumer Barometer

Google has unveiled the findings of its fourth annual Consumer Barometer that provides insight into how consumers behave online, from their purchasing habits to how many connected devices they own, to the frequency of their internetusage, as well as how much research they do before buying online.

The free analysis tool is based on data from two research sources the core Consumer Barometer questionnaire, which is focused on the adult online population and Connected Consumer Study, which seeks to enumerate the total adult population and is used to weight the Consumer Barometer results. The studies targeted consumers in over 50 countries including the UK, USA, China and counties across Europe and involved more than 150,000 respondents.

Among the key shopping habit findings, Google points out that over one in three respondents made their last clothing or footwear purchase online, and that the rate of online purchase is even higher in South Korea, where 75 percent of respondents bought online, compared to 49 percent in the UK.

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The findings also showed that internet users in the UK are most likely in Europe to have researched their purchase online, and that on average, 28 percent of Brits consulted the web regarding their purchase across 10 product categories, compared with 18 percent across Europe.

The studies also found that smartphones are now a significant way for people in the UK to do product research online, particularly for the younger generations, with 38 percent of under 24s researching purchases online in the UK using their smartphones, compared to an average of 21 percent across all age groups.

Commenting on the findings, Peter Cory, agency sales director at Google, said: “People now use digital media for a huge array of purposes, but it isn’t always easy to tell what channels and activities are the most effective, particularly if you’re dealing with multiple markets and products.

“Our latest Consumer Barometer captures a vast array of new consumer research and enables anyone to easily explore how consumers are behaving in this brave new digital world.”

The Google Consumer Barometer is free to use and has its own dedicated website where users can filter the results by country and download customised data and market-specific information to discover things such as how people research and purchase online, the influence of online video on their shopping habits or the differences between generations and their online behaviour.