As part of situation analysis either for a campaign or a longer-term plan it is important
that marketers and agencies gain an appreciation of how the Internet supports the
multi-channel buying process. In this section we will review different models of online
buyer behaviour that have been developed to help marketers better understand this.
Insights into the different ways in which consumers use the Internet are provided by
Table 2.5. It is apparent that, as we saw from Figure 2.17, using the Internet to inform
buying decisions is the most common activity – almost twice as common as purchasing
online. Investment of campaign budgets should reflect this. In some, such as the car
market, they do, with BMW reputedly now spending over a quarter of its marketing
budget on digital media in the UK. The popularity of e-mail use and general browsing
show that socialising and entertainment are also common activities and suggest that
FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) brands can also use the Internet to reach their cus-
tomers through supporting these activities.The amount of Internet usage also appears to increase with familiarity. BMRB (2001)
reports that those using the Internet for more than 2 years spent an average of 20 hours
online per month. This compares to 14 hours for those who had been using the Internet
for less than 2 years. Similarly, the activities that consumers get involved with increase
in involvement and risk through time. Figure 2.22 shows that initially Internet users
may restrict themselves to searching for information or using e-mail. As their confidence
grows their use of the Internet for purchase is likely to increase with a move to higher-
value items and more frequent purchases. This is often coupled with the use of
broadband. For this reason, there is still good potential for e-retail sales, even if the per-
centage of the population with access to the Internet plateaus.CHAPTER 2· THE INTERNET MICRO-ENVIRONMENT
Online buyer behaviour
Table 2.5Internet usage activities in the UKPurpose of Internet use: by age,^1 2003/04
Great Britain Percentages
16–34 35–54 55 and over All adults
Using e-mail 83 84 85 84
Searching for information about goods or services 80 84 74 80
Searching for information about travel and accommodation 63 74 70 69
General browsing or surfing 76 66 49 67
Buying goods, tickets or services 51 52 42 50Internet banking 34 39 33 36
Activities related specifically to employment 39 37 17 35
Reading or downloading online news 37 34 25 34
Activities related to an education course 38 23 11 28
Playing or downloading music 37 18 12 25Other educational activities 26 26 18 25
Downloading other software 27 22 18 23
Listening to web radios 20 13 9 15
Other financial services 7 9 9 8(^1) Adults who have used the Internet in the last three months.
Source: National Statistics, 2004:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_social/Social_Trends35/Social_Trends_35_Ch13.pdf