Harris Survey Finds Six E-Shopping Archetypes
Online shoppers can be E-bivalent Newbies; Time-Sensitive Materialists; Clicks & Mortar; Hooked, Online & Single; Hunter-Gatherers; or Brand Loyalists, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive.
In addition to identifying six e-shopping archetypes, the survey, commissioned by ebates.com, found banner and offline advertising to have limited influence on which sites user/buyers visited. Only 6% of the survey’s respondents indicated they began their online search for a product after seeing an offline ad in print or on radio or television.
E-bivalent Newbies (5%) is the newest to the Internet, is somewhat older, likes shopping online the least, and spends the least online. However, nearly 95 reported beginning their search for a product purchased online by clicking on a banner ad (nearly three times the size of the next largest group, Hooked, Online & Single).
Time-Sensitive Materialists (17%) are most interested in convenience and saving time, less likely to read product reviews, compare prices or use coupons.
Clicks & Mortar (23%) tends to shop online but prefers to buy offline, is more like to be female homemakers, has privacy and security concerns about buying online, and visits brick-and-mortar shopping malls the mot often.
Hooked, Online & Single (16%) are more likely to be young, single males with high incomes, have been on the Internet the longest, play games, download software, bank, invest and shop online the most often. Some 3.3% of them click on banner ads.
Hunter-Gatherers (20%) are typically age 30-49 with two children, and most often go to sites that provide analysis and comparison of products and prices.
Brand Loyalists (19%) are the most likely to go directly to the site addresses of a merchant they know, are the most satisfied with shopping online, and spend the most online.
Harris interviewed 3,000 online respondents in December 1999. Ebates.com commissioned the survey to identify e-shopping archetypes, if any.
