Available Studies

'98 On-Line Monetary Transactions - Top Line Summary

January '98. Here's what our panel told us about On-Line Monetary Transactions:
(Survey data processed by Applied Market Research West)

Marketing to the Internet masses is said to be a highly lucrative business, but when put into practice, the results are falling short. Now the question is why? What prompts people to buy on-line? Who is buying on-line, and who isn't?

In January 1997, and again in January 1998, Esearch collected input from nearly 3,000 netizens about their on-line buying habits and we're making this information available. We're collecting information on trends as we see responses changing from one year to the next.

What did we find? We found that nearly 70% of the sample had conducted some type of on-line transaction; and of these, 62% had purchased a product or service. In 1997, slightly more than half the sample (52%) had conducted some type of on-line transaction and that of this 52%, nearly all had purchased a product or service. More people are conducting transactions on-line, but the percentage of product/services buys is not increasing at the same rate.

We found that the most successful solicitations (resulting in a sale) had occurred via email. This differs from the 1997 results, which sighted web sites as the most successful means of solicitation. Both surveys indicate that convenience and time savings drive on-line purchases.

1997 and 1998 respondents are consistent in the key reasons people are reluctant to purchase on-line, which is a lack of trust in Internet security.

Specifics for 1998 include:

Almost 70% of respondents have conducted a monetary transaction on-line.
Of this 70%, about 61% had purchased a product or service.
The majority, 87%, purchased after being solicited to purchase on-line. About 86% purchased after being solicited to purchase through email.
The most frequently purchased items were stocks/securities (89%), leisure items (40%), and computer hardware/software (39%).
Respondents stated that convenience (44%), less amount of time taken (37%), and availability of items (28%) were the reasons that prompted them to purchase on-line.
Brand name items (36%) and specialty items (36%) were purchased on-line.

You can have the entire report, which includes crosstabs, tables, and demographic information for $1,350. For information, please call Janet Westergaard at 310-373-1894 (she'll usually answer her phone between 8:30a.m.-5:00p.m. PST), or send her an email message at westergaard@mindspring.com.