Rethinking the “Purchase Funnel”
A new report by Forrester Research suggests that marketers need to stop looking at the purchase process as a "funnel" and start thinking of it as a dynamic series of interactions. Corinne Munchbach, who authored the Forrester report, encourages content marketers to focus on the "customer life cycle" (including social media interactions) during the four phases of a purchase: product discovery, exploration and research, purchase, and post-purchase engagement. Munchbach...read more >>
Google and Amazon Top Destinations for Product Research
Google tops the list of places online consumers go when making product purchase decisions. Of adults interviewed by Forrester Research, 20 percent said they found the search engine the most helpful when making a decision to purchase a product or service. But Amazon wasn't far behind. The survey shows 19 percent find Amazon most helpful for gathering product information and coming to a decision about purchasing online. Of course, that doesn't mean...read more >>
Amazon’s Weak Spots (Yes, It Has Them)
Forrester Research has released an in-depth look at how retailers can compete and coexist with Amazon. For many retailers, Amazon is seen as both a friend and a foe. "For many businesses, Amazon is simultaneously a sales channel, a potential service provider, and a competitive threat," Forrester's Brian Walker notes in a blog post about the study. Walker goes on to list five threats to the online retailer's profitability: Flopping in key emerging...read more >>
E- and M-Commerce: Amazon’s Reign and Smartphones’ Rise
People like Amazon (not the forest, although I'm sure that's lovely). According to a recent e-tailing group and PowerReviews study reported by Marketwire, e-commerce shoppers spend a lot more time researching products than offline shoppers. With 60 percent beginning their product research on Amazon.com, and 85 percent referring to the site at some point during their search, "Amazon.com is the de facto site for product reviews and price checking." In...read more >>