To get into the heads of consumers in Asia and learn what influences their decision to buy consumer electronics, entertainment, technology or gaming products, Google recently commissioned a study to understand the purchasing patterns of the 14.5 million "digital lifestyle" consumers in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
The study was conducted by US-based research firm Netpop in April, and the purchasing patterns of 3,027 consumers across the three countries over the age of 18 who had bought a digital lifestyle product during the previous six months were surveyed.
Results showed that eight in 10 of these people across the three countries researched online before making a purchase in a retail store. More use the internet than any other source at each step of the research and purchase process -- from interest to evaluation, to price/feature comparisons, and even to the final decision on what and where to buy.
The internet emerged as the top source for product research with respondents spending over 60 minutes online, as compared to time spent in asking friends or family, through in-store promotional displays, catalogues or brochures, or sales staff (20-33 minutes each).
It was also the top source of influence on the purchase cycle (23 percent), compared to friends/family (17 percent), sales staff at the store (10 percent), in-store promotional displays (10 percent) and coupons/promotions (10 percent).
The study also found that at least three in four digital lifestyle products are purchased in stores as a result of online research. Consumers prefer to see, feel and touch them, place heavy emphasis on good in-store customer service, and are conscious of incurring extra shipping costs.
Irene Sung, head of technology, media and entertainment for Google Southeast Asia tells us more about what this study means for marketers:
Marcel Lee Pereira: What was the objective of this study?
Irene Sung: We had a lot of feedback from the market in the last two years, that there needs to be an understanding of the digital consumer. In the last few years we have seen an increase in internet spend, in time and engagement. So the question is, in each country, where are the consumers spending the most time online? We did it to understand this from the consumer standpoint. Because I think marketers roll out advertisements and messages that they want consumers to react to, and thus need to know more about what goes on behind the minds of consumers.
Pereira: What was the most important finding?
Sung: The huge time spent online, the influence of the internet as well as the core role of search engines. It's an ecosystem, and it's very important to see how offline impacts online and vice versa to make a purchase decision. It's the symbiosis between offline and online media that is crucial to you as a marketer.
Pereira: What are the main differences between Singapore and its neighbours?
Sung: Interestingly, Malaysia and Thailand are higher in terms of the percentage of consumers who use the internet and search engines for product research. Perhaps it is due to the greater distances between locations in these larger countries, even though we know that Singapore has 100 percent household broadband penetration rate. But each country has its own idiosyncrasies.
The distinction is the fact that people will research online, but they're still going to want to purchase in the retail store. That's fundamentally different from other parts of the world -- what we call research online, purchase offline. Marketers have to understand that you're still going to close the deal in the stores. The harder you leverage online to push more people into the retail store, the better.
Pereira: What would you say is the main learning point for marketers?
Sung: The key learning point for marketers is to look at integrating their total media mix. While many advertisers and agencies are still working in traditional silos between offline and online media, there are a few that have truly integrated within their organizations, and as a result, are now successfully reaping the benefits of integrated media campaigns. With consumer behaviour indicating an integration of offline and online media, marketers have to ensure that their messages are consistent -- both online and offline, too.
Marcel Lee Pereira is editor of iMedia Connection Asia.
