What Consumers Do Before Purchasing Online

A recent whitepaper by Google and Nielson into online consumer purchasing behaviour across a range of sectors gives some valuable insights into what people do before they make an actual purchase.
The report tries to shed light on areas such as the how long people spend researching a product and how they use search during the decision making process.
Notable findings of the study include:
(1) The product research phase can last up to a month.
(2) A third of conversions are made 30 days after the initial search
(3) 70% of consumers who end up purchasing something refer to a search engine. (Is that all!)
(4) Consumers who make online purchases are 19% more likely to use generic search terms when compared to those who don’t buy online or purchase offline.