Report: Electronics shoppers who do research online spend more in stores

Common wisdom dictates that researching products online may save you money. But a new study indicates that isn''t necessarily the case. The survey, conducted for Yahoo by Channel Force, found that gadget-shopping consumers spend 10 percent more on TVs and digital cameras that they buy in stores if they research them online first.  As reported by MediaPost, Channel Force held 1,100 in-person interviews at major electronics and big-box retailers earlier this year. Shoppers who used search engines before coming to the stores spent an average of $31 more on digital cameras and $139 more on TVs.  Over half of the customers had specific brands in mind and most bought one of the brands they were looking for.

Does this mean you shouldn't do research online? No, but you may want to consider which sites you visit to do that research (hint, hint). The tools these shoppers used included retail Web sites (73 percent), manufacturer sites (68 percent) and search engines (49 percent). Those surveyed weren't very knowledgeable about advanced features of products and 75 percent didn't have a specific model in mind before shopping, despite their online research.