Social Commerce and Product Research Are Gaining Ground

If you’re surfing the Internet for information about a product or service you’re about to buy you're not the only one. Three in five (58%) Americans say they do online research before buying a product or service. This is an increase since 2004 where half (49%) said they researched online before buying a product or a service.

Every day 21 per cent of American adults are researching products and services online, in 2004 only one in ten (9%) did this, The Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals in a study on American’s e-commerce behavior.

Researched a product or service yesterday:

	Feb 04	Feb 05	Feb 07	Feb 10
	9%	13%	15%	21%

Source: The Pew Internet and American Life System (September 2010)

It is not only information researching which has increased. Also Social Commerce is gaining ground. The online shoppers are also contributing with ratings and reviews and in this way sharing their opinion. This is mostly done on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. One in four (24%) American adults have posted comments about a product or service they've bought.

Not surprisingly the percentage of Americans shopping online have increased from 36 per cent in May 2000 to 52 per cent in 2010. The study shows that the more affluent Americans do more online research than those less affluent. The more affluent with more education are also more active in relation to Social Commerce and post reviews and comments more frequently.

The product and service information research and sharing coincides with increasing use of social networking sites. 46% of Americans reporting the use of Internet sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn which has increased from 5% in February 2005.

See the whole The Pew Internet and American Life Project on Online Product Research.