A study by Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) and BIGresearch reported in Adweek points to the still significant influence of traditional media in online purchase behaviors. About half of consumers in the study reported “taking cues” from old media to look up new media.
Traditional media has one big advantage over online media – big-dollar budgets that don’t have to produce a sale in 10 days! It’s good news for agencies that they can use traditional media’s vast budgets to drive traffic to the web (where hard ROI metrics reign supreme!) Likewise, companies wanting to convert traffic from websites to their stores can take comfort in the finding that 92% of respondents in the survey researched products online before hitting stores. Barnes & Noble is a good example of a retailer that pursues an integrated strategy – consumers receive email coupons they can redeem at stores while also enjoying the smooth shopping experience at www.barnesandnoble.com