Shoppers offline purchases are driven by online research

It appears that even more shoppers are using online retailers to search for specific products but they aren't buying those products online. A recent report from ShopLocal indicates that online shopping, for some, is simply research.

by Kristina Knight

In January, the ShopLocal Index rose 20% oyear over year but compared to overall 2007 growth rate the index decreased by more than 30%. For the month, the Index was at 191 with 232 million pageviews; in January 2007 there were 193 million pageviews. This is the lowest increase since the Index was launched in January 2007 but coincides with other reports that online shopping increased only about 0.2% in January 2008.

Pageviews per retailer reached 11.5, a 9% year over year increase. Brick-and-mortar department stores and mass merchants continue to lead the Index in the retailing category,

According to the report author this indicates that while consumers are shopping online they aren't buying online. Instead they are using the Internet to find deals which can be used to purchase items in-store.

This is not a new happening. According to Forrester Research as much as 25% of offline purchases are influenced by online research or browsing. Offline sales influenced by online behavior are expected to reach more than $1 trillion by 2011.