"Online Research Drives Offline Sales"

Interesting article from eMarketer on the above.


Basically the web influenced 3.5 times more sales than what was done online. Obviously this data is for and about businesses that have both retail physical ("brick and mortar") and online stores, but it does show the influence that the web has. With respect to the travel industry, this is similar to understanding how online marketing and ecommerce (by suppliers and OTAs) effect traditional travel agent sales.




Ok so the above chart is clear as mud. But essentially what we want to understand is "how much % of the total retail sales is that 3.5 times web-influenced sales?" So if we do some simple assumptions and calculations:

Total Physical Retail Sales = 43.14 + 18.28 + 13.94 +2.44 = 77.8%
Web-influenced Retail Sales = 3.5 X (100-77.8-3.95-0.47) = 73.28%

Hahahahah... so the web influenced almost ALL Physical retail sales. Yes, I know I have taken some liberty with my assumptions, but this is the US market data. It is not inconceivable that most people will do some research online before they go out and buy some medium to big ticket items (USD 100+).



Alright, so here is the "real" data that we want... well not really. This says that web-influenced retail + web purchases = 15% of the total retail, in other words, web purchases make up 15% / ( 1 + 3.5) = 3.33 % of retail purchases. Which seems low, but then I think this data includes ALL RETAIL sales - as in, 7-11, gas stations, Starbucks, restaurants (?), etc. It does say it "excludes travel sales".

So we are nowhere close to understanding the effect of the web on offline commerce (0Commerce - which could also stand for "old Commerce") for businesses that have both channels. The 73.8% number is great but does not have sound data to back it up.

Interesting, this is the classic advertising problem of "Half of all my advertising is wasted. I just don’t know which half!" Most online marketing and advertisements are measurable, but really only when we talk about clicks, pageviews, and at best leads (I am excluding PPC from this statement because as far as I am concerned, PPC is a sales channel rather than an advertising medium). The intangible aspects of brand awareness, mindshare, and influence are not measurable unless we strap a brain scanner to users and connect that to the web.

So maybe as marketers, we have only progressed a little bit. Not "half" of my advertising is wasted, but perhaps something like I know:

- 30% works for sure because people visit my website (and of those perhaps 2% purchased)
- The other 70% I don't know much about as it relates to driving brand awareness and offline purchases.
- I know based on studies like the above that half of the 70% works but I don't know which half !!!!!