Google Reveals Online Buying Processes by Industry

Online consumers who take at least two web “steps” before purchasing a product — say, a paid search ad or an e-mail marketing message — account for 66% of retail revenue, according to data from a new free tool that Google Inc. has made available online. “The Customer Journey to Online Purchase” is a website where users can toy around for free with information designed to show how online shoppers use web marketing in the aggregate. Findings are based on online marketing data from more than 36,000 Google clients and cover industries such as retail, automotive and consumer packaged goods, where the vast majority of purchases are relatively quick given that they usually require little research, according to Google. Data is also available on technology purchasing, a category in which product research takes more than 28 days but leads to purchases worth 3.5 times more than immediate transactions. Among data points that users can review are average order values by the days of research before buying. The site also shows how various online marketing methods impact sales. For more, see the Internet Retailer report at http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/04/26/google-launches-wide-view-tool-online-marketing