Social Media Impacting CE Purchasing

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 2/22/2012

Arlington, Va. - The vast majority of social-media users are tapping into these sites prior to making a CE purchase, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said in a recent report.
The CEA study,
"How Social Media Influences Purchase Decisions," noted that 24 percent of consumers who use social media said they will most likely check social-media websites prior to buying a CE product. In addition, 38 percent said reviews and comments by someone they know influence their decision on what to buy.
These numbers are even higher among people the CEA called high-engagement users. About 65 percent of these check social-media sites prior to a purchase, and 84 percent rely on reviews and comments.
The high-user consumer also tends to be strongly influenced by advertising found on social-media websites - 71 percent vs. 23 percent. In addition, high-volume users were more likely to search for a coupon code or discount - 53 percent compared with 42 percent of regular users.
Most high-engagement users, 51 percent, are also more likely to place a post-purchase comment or review on a social-media site, with 83 percent describing their post as positive. Only 22 percent of low-volume social-media users tend to do the same. Most of these posts, 72 percent, were placed on the person's individual page, with the retailers website next (37 percent) and a personal blog last (26 percent).