- 83% of Internet users have researched a product online as of December 2002.
- That represents growth of 52% from 64 million who had done product research online as of March 2000, to 97 million who said they had done such research as of December 2002.
- Online men are more likely than online women to have used the Internet for product-related research.
- The higher an Internet user’s household income and education level, the more likely it is that he has done product-related research.
- Those with the most experience online and those with broadband connections are more likely than others to do product-related research.
While researching a product or service has consistently been one of the most popular online activities since 2000, the number of Internet users who have turned to the Web as a resource for product information has increased notably since 2000. In March 2000, 74% of Internet users (about 64 million people) said they had looked for product information and in December 2002, 83% of users (about 97 million) reported they had done such online searches. Similarly, 14% of Internet users (about 12 million) reported looking for product information on a typical day in March 2000, while 19% (about 21 million) said they did so in December 2002.
Our prior research has shown that the majority of Americans (63%) have come to expect that businesses will provide product information through a Web site. Further, almost half of all Americans (46%) say they are more likely to go to a physical store to buy a product if that store provides information about its wares online, regardless of whether those products are available for purchase through the Web site.
Men with Internet access have invariably been more avid product information-seekers than women, though that rift has reduced substantially to less than half the size it was in 2000. This might be a result of the fact that women are relative newcomers to the Internet and had not yet become comfortable with product searches online. Women demonstrated over twice as much growth as men did for this activity between March 2001 and December 2002, at which time 85% of male Internet users said they had searched for product information online, while 81% of female users reported doing so.
While there were noticeable discrepancies between the levels of product researching among the various racial groups in early 2000, by the May-June survey period of that year, all groups hit 73%. Since then, there has been relatively equal growth across the board, with each group varying no more than one percentage point from the trend line of all Internet users.
In 2000, when the Internet population was still relatively young, online product researching was most common among the 30-49 age cohort. But by December 2002, everyone under age 65 was equally as likely to have searched for product information online. Though wired seniors’ interest in researching products on the Web has grown considerably over the course of our research, they are still the most reluctant to consult the Web for product information.
Other demographics
Those users who occupy the higher income and education brackets have been more likely to seek out product and service information online compared to those with lower earnings and less schooling. At the end of 2002, for instance, our survey found that 86% of online college graduates had researched products online, while 78% of users with a high school degree had done so. Similarly, 87% of users in households earning $75,000 or more said they had taken to the Web to investigate a product, while 78% of those with household incomes under $30,000 had done so.
Those with the most experience online and those with broadband connections are more likely than others to do product-related research. Long-time users of the Web are most likely to have accessed product information online; in December 2002, 89% of those with 6 or more years of experience had researched a product, but just 66% of those who had been online for under a year did so. Home broadband users have also been more enthusiastic product information-seekers. In the December survey, 92% of those with high-speed access at home and 83% of those with dial-up access had done product research.
For more information on product research online, see the following Pew Internet Project reports: