Online Retail Research Set to Double Again in 2011
Announcement posted by Salmat 14 Feb 2011
14 February 2011 - Lasoo recorded a record 5.6 million product interactions in December last year and the exponential growth of online pre-shopping is set to continue in 2011.
Australian consumer appetite for online research prior to purchase increased dramatically in 2010 according to the nation's leading pre-shop site, Lasoo.com.au. The number of consumers engaging with Lasoo’s content has doubled in the past year, peaking at 5.6 million product interactions in December.
The popularity of pre-purchase research was highlighted in the three months leading up to Christmas when 257.8 products were viewed on Lasoo every second. During this time, more than two million Lasoo visitors acknowledged visiting a physical store following their Lasoo research, with 75 per cent subsequently making a purchase. There has also been an increase in the length of time spent by consumers on the pre-shop site. The typical visitor spent nine minutes researching on Lasoo which is approximately three times the average time spent on retail sites.
One of the stand-out trends of the latter part of 2010 was a rise in the number of consumers looking to access and research retail purchases using mobile devices. Fifteen million catalogue pages were viewed on consumer mobile devices using Lasoo's mobile application in the Christmas season. The most popular device used was the Apple iPhone, followed by the iPad, Android App and Windows 7 devices.
Lasoo expects that the demand for retail information from any place, at any time, will continue to grow in 2011 and that mobile devices will play an increasingly important role in pre-shop research. By late 2010, Lasoo was already seeing local adoption of practices such as the use of mobile devices as bar code readers to conduct product research and price comparisons, check product specifications and check product reviews and ratings.
”Australian consumers buying direct from offshore retailers will continue to be a reality in 2011.The strong Australian dollar, greater range of products and brands, customer service, price and most importantly the overall online shopping experience, are all factors which have led to 43 per cent (according to a study by PayPal) of online sales going offshore. The GST saving would have only a small influence over this, if any at all. Many of these factors can be addressed by local retailers winning back some of estimated $34 billion that will be spent by Australians online in 2012 (according to Forrester Research); a prize worth fighting for,” said Paul Marshall, Executive General Manager of Lasoo.
“Sales transactions that occurred online represent a small percentage of total retail sales; whilst online research influenced 50 per cent of sales that occurred in Australia’s bricks-and-mortar retail stores. So the big prize still remains, with a strong focus on reaching and influencing the shopper who is online. Both online marketing and online commerce need to be part of a retailer’s multichannel strategy,” he said.
About Lasoo.com.au
Lasoo.com.au is a website that allows consumers to search and browse the latest advertised products and offers from most of Australian leading retailers, to help them find what to buy and from where, before going in store or online to buy.
Lasoo is a pre-shop tool that extends the reach and influence of any retail marketing message into a highly engaged and targeted Audience of Australian shoppers; whether that be online, onto the mobile phone (m.lasoo.com.au), and into iPhone, iPad, Windows7 and Android applications, search engine marketing, social networks, user-generated social shopping and display ad networks.
Lasoo is a division of Salmat Ltd (SLM), a top 300 ASX-listed business with over 30 years of experience in distributing retailers' promotional material directly to consumers. Salmat has an existing long-standing relationship with both retailers and shoppers.
Lasoo is part of a wider range of digital services from Salmat designed to allow retailers to harness the advertising power of the internet. This includes Dynamic Catalogue, a fully managed and hosted catalogue solution for retailer’s websites, making it searchable, browsable, fast loading, discoverable and actionable. Dynamic Catalogue is the leading catalogue viewing technology in Australia.
About Salmat
Salmat is Australia's leading marketing services provider specialising in targeted customer communication solutions. Salmat facilitates their clients' contact with their customers via an unmatched range of communication channel options – including voice, online, print, electronic and mobile - with comprehensive reporting on measurable results.
For more information about the Salmat Group, please visit www.salmat.com
Media contact
Josh Faulks
Head of Corporate Affairs, Salmat
+61 412 202 557, josh.faulks@salmat.com.au
Australian consumer appetite for online research prior to purchase increased dramatically in 2010 according to the nation's leading pre-shop site, Lasoo.com.au. The number of consumers engaging with Lasoo’s content has doubled in the past year, peaking at 5.6 million product interactions in December.
The popularity of pre-purchase research was highlighted in the three months leading up to Christmas when 257.8 products were viewed on Lasoo every second. During this time, more than two million Lasoo visitors acknowledged visiting a physical store following their Lasoo research, with 75 per cent subsequently making a purchase. There has also been an increase in the length of time spent by consumers on the pre-shop site. The typical visitor spent nine minutes researching on Lasoo which is approximately three times the average time spent on retail sites.
One of the stand-out trends of the latter part of 2010 was a rise in the number of consumers looking to access and research retail purchases using mobile devices. Fifteen million catalogue pages were viewed on consumer mobile devices using Lasoo's mobile application in the Christmas season. The most popular device used was the Apple iPhone, followed by the iPad, Android App and Windows 7 devices.
Lasoo expects that the demand for retail information from any place, at any time, will continue to grow in 2011 and that mobile devices will play an increasingly important role in pre-shop research. By late 2010, Lasoo was already seeing local adoption of practices such as the use of mobile devices as bar code readers to conduct product research and price comparisons, check product specifications and check product reviews and ratings.
”Australian consumers buying direct from offshore retailers will continue to be a reality in 2011.The strong Australian dollar, greater range of products and brands, customer service, price and most importantly the overall online shopping experience, are all factors which have led to 43 per cent (according to a study by PayPal) of online sales going offshore. The GST saving would have only a small influence over this, if any at all. Many of these factors can be addressed by local retailers winning back some of estimated $34 billion that will be spent by Australians online in 2012 (according to Forrester Research); a prize worth fighting for,” said Paul Marshall, Executive General Manager of Lasoo.
“Sales transactions that occurred online represent a small percentage of total retail sales; whilst online research influenced 50 per cent of sales that occurred in Australia’s bricks-and-mortar retail stores. So the big prize still remains, with a strong focus on reaching and influencing the shopper who is online. Both online marketing and online commerce need to be part of a retailer’s multichannel strategy,” he said.
About Lasoo.com.au
Lasoo.com.au is a website that allows consumers to search and browse the latest advertised products and offers from most of Australian leading retailers, to help them find what to buy and from where, before going in store or online to buy.
Lasoo is a pre-shop tool that extends the reach and influence of any retail marketing message into a highly engaged and targeted Audience of Australian shoppers; whether that be online, onto the mobile phone (m.lasoo.com.au), and into iPhone, iPad, Windows7 and Android applications, search engine marketing, social networks, user-generated social shopping and display ad networks.
Lasoo is a division of Salmat Ltd (SLM), a top 300 ASX-listed business with over 30 years of experience in distributing retailers' promotional material directly to consumers. Salmat has an existing long-standing relationship with both retailers and shoppers.
Lasoo is part of a wider range of digital services from Salmat designed to allow retailers to harness the advertising power of the internet. This includes Dynamic Catalogue, a fully managed and hosted catalogue solution for retailer’s websites, making it searchable, browsable, fast loading, discoverable and actionable. Dynamic Catalogue is the leading catalogue viewing technology in Australia.
About Salmat
Salmat is Australia's leading marketing services provider specialising in targeted customer communication solutions. Salmat facilitates their clients' contact with their customers via an unmatched range of communication channel options – including voice, online, print, electronic and mobile - with comprehensive reporting on measurable results.
For more information about the Salmat Group, please visit www.salmat.com
Media contact
Josh Faulks
Head of Corporate Affairs, Salmat
+61 412 202 557, josh.faulks@salmat.com.au