New research from customer insight specialist GI Insight reveals that UK consumers take a truly multi-channel approach to shopping for non-supermarket goods, using a range of touch points for browsing and purchasing. The study indicated that the vast majority of consumers prefer to research goods and services online before going to the high street to actually make their purchases.

 The GI Insight survey of 2,000 consumers from around the UK showed that 72% of consumers prefer to browse and research their purchases online, while only 19% of shoppers prefer to vet their potential purchases in-store. The study also revealed that almost equal proportions of consumers state a preference for making their non-supermarket purchases on the internet and in a store – 46% online and 47% on the high street. In addition, the figures indicate a niche of consumers still prefer to do their browsing and buying via print catalogue – 5% and 3% respectively.

 The findings show that men prefer to browse and buy online – with 50% purchasing on the internet compared to 42% of women, and 74% browsing on the web compared to 69% of women. Women show a greater preference for shopping on the high street than men, with 52% preferring to purchase in-store compared to 41% of men, and 22% browsing in store versus 17% of men.

 Older consumers show a marked inclination for buying in-store with 62% of respondents in the 55 to 64 age group stating they prefer to buy in a shop and only 33% giving online as their preference – but their browsing habits were more in line with the average, as 69% say they prefer to do their research online.

 Andy Wood, managing director of GI Insight, comments: “These figures clearly indicate that UK consumers see shopping as a multi-channel activity and process.

 “The most obvious trend evident in the findings is that consumers often look for and research products online – doing price comparisons and checking product reviews – before going to the high street to buy in-store. But the reverse can also be true and undoubtedly a smaller proportion of shoppers go to the high street to look, feel and try out – or try on – their prospective purchases before going home to buy online.”

 While the findings indicate that a core of consumers expect firms to be accessible both online and on the high street – and, for some, via catalogue as well – the vast majority will still buy from a brand that does not offer one of the major channels for purchasing. Only 28% say they would not purchase from a firm that failed to offer online shopping while just 23% would refuse to buy from a brand without a high street presence – and merely 11% demand that a company have a catalogue.

 Consumers with the highest household incomes are most wedded to high street brands – 53% of those in the £100,000-£149,000 household income range and 44% of those in the £150,000-plus bracket say they would only buy from a firm with high street presence, compared with just over 20% in lower income groups.

 A significant proportion of consumers, however, do expect businesses to offer a range of options for getting in direct contact with the company – with 39% saying they would switch to a competitor if a firm they deal with did not offer choice in this area, and more than 48% saying this would be the case with a company they had not bought from before.

 Wood notes: “The results show a large majority don’t mind if a brand is only available over one channel for purchasing – underlining the fact that most consumers are flexible enough to switch channels where necessary. But when it comes to getting in touch with a company for general information, taking up an offer, help, servicing, problems, complaints and other forms of communication, a sizable proportion of consumers do want a choice of channel for getting in touch with that firm.”

 He adds: “Brands can’t view their businesses in silos – as stand-alone web or bricks-and-mortar operations with separate customers – because that is not how consumers view them. For consumers, a brand is the same over the internet as it is in its mail-order catalogues as it is on the high street as it is over the phone. And when it comes to customer service, they expect a firm to be accessible through their preferred touch point, whether that is email, web form, phone, post, or face-to-face.

 “More than ever, businesses operating across channels need to understand their customers’ shopping habits and preferences. How a customer will respond to a company and through which channel is very murky once you aggregate data to the top level. The only way to deal with it is to track each consumer with data and analysis and respond accordingly.”

About GI Insight

GI Insight specialises in database marketing and loyalty schemes, having created and managed more retail loyalty programmes than anyone else in the UK. The Leicester-based company offers a full range of database marketing services including consultancy, database design/build/host, data capture, analysis, segmentation, profiling, campaign execution and measurement, available as a whole or on a ‘pick and mix’ basis. The analysis and interpretation of your sales and customer data enables you to influence customer behaviour. This knowledge helps you to reliably increase profitability by: 

•   Getting more new customers (acquisition)
•   Getting existing customers to (retention):
  •    Spend more often
  •    Spend more per transaction

For more information, please visit www.gi-solutionsgroup.com

(London and Hong Kong) i-Mego, the global headphone brand, is launching a major new competition this August – the TopTrakz Challenge – to showcase the best talent amongst unsigned bands in Europe. The competition is being supported by PR and online activity, including social media.

This is the first session in the new i-MegoTopTrakz competition series, beginning on 1st September 2010. Unsigned bands and solo artists are invited to submit an original song of their choice. Only two entries per band or artist are permitted, but there is no restriction at all on style or genre. All entrants must be based in Europe. The judges’ decisions will be based partly on artistic judgement, and partly on support for entrants expressed by their fans. For each entry received, the artist or band will be given a URL where their fans can leave a vote for their band’s track.

Full entry instructions may be found at http://events.myspace.com/Event/View/6917715, or by visiting our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Imego/364438985044. Entry forms for the TopTrakz Challenge are available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TopTrakz1.

The i-MegoTopTrakz competition is designed to promote bands and artists who do not yet have a commercial contract, and help these unsigned bands to further their work. Each session of the competition will award a first prize of a professional studio day. Ten runners-up will receive one of i-Mego’s high quality audio products. Every entrant, and every fan who votes for their entry, will receive a rebate voucher/code for selected i-Mego products.

A shortlist of thirty second-round tracks will be chosen by the judges, before moving on to the final selection of one winner and ten runners-up. The shortlist, runners-up and eventual winner will be widely publicised in the final stages of the competition.

Miranda Hudson, Marketing Director for i-Mego, comments, “As a brand that is committed and connected to the emerging music scene, we are delighted to be launching this competition to highlight the work of all those excellent musicians whose work is not backed by major commercial marketing campaigns. We hope that taking part in the i-MegoTopTrakz challenge will provide an exciting experience for participants, a great publicity boost for shortlisted entrants, and a real accolade for runners-up and, of course, the overall winner.”

i-Mego
i-Mego is the global audio accessory brand that broke onto the market in 2009, and now has a distribution network across Europe, Scandinavia and North America. Bridging the gap between cool and quality, i-Mego headphones not only produce high-fidelity sound, but are also stylish gear for street, club or studio.

i-Mego products may be found at http://www.i-mego.com
TopTrakz entry forms are at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TopTrakz1

i-Mego at IFA 2010
i-Mego is exhibiting at the IFA 2010 consumer electronics show, at the Messe Berlin, 3-8 Sept 2010. All new products will be on display at the i-Mego stand and visitors to the show, trade and public, will be welcomed with a variety of exciting promotions. Please visit us at Hong Kong Pavilion Hall 26C, booth number 831.

Trade visitors wishing to make a specific appointment, or to register as a reseller, should contact admin@i-mego.com

For further press information, please contact imego@lindsellmarketing.com

What really helped make the campaign unique was the role of media – but the new-style media coverage did not unfold quite the way some observers thought it would. Early in the election contest, I wrote about the fact that many in the political class were expecting this to be the UK’s first real digital election – in the mould of Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 when online communications played an unprecedented role.

Well that wasn’t quite how it worked out, was it? Instead, this was the election in which good old television played a huge role – maybe a bigger role that ever – as the TV debates dominated the campaign. So, while new media may be interactive and speak more directly to the individual, it took a back seat while an old mass media made a massive impact on the campaign’s trajectory as the old-fashioned big broadcast event created an excitement that set the election apart from any other in recent history.

For the Liberal Democrats, the television debates provided an unprecedented platform to showcase their leader and air their views – with Nick Clegg emerging as a serious player and legitimate contender for prime minister. But it was also another old medium that may have knocked him back down, as many of the mainstream newspapers went on the attack with a series of withering – and in most cases unfair – attacks on the LibDem leader who seemed bemused at the idea of going from the new Churchill to a Nazi sympathiser in the space of a week.

So while old media, particularly newspapers, have struggled to maintain their relevance and influence in the digital age, they certainly demonstrated that they can still be wheeled out take centre stage – to in fact provide centre stage – when Britons want to watch the big event unfold en masse before they gather round the water cooler. Even in the election’s compelling aftermath.