Most importantly for our industry, the most popular products/services bought online by European shoppers were travel tickets (54%) and holidays (42%).

With a huge 80% of European internet users claiming to have made a purchase online these figures make a pretty strong business case for investing in online marketing.

Another key finding of the report shows how web users are researching their purchases more. The EIAA report states:

40% of all European online shoppers have changed their mind about which brand to buy following research on the web, highlighting the power that websites can have in the purchasing decision.

Online shoppers from more mature online markets are more likely to change their mind on what brand to buy following web research, than online consumers from less developed markets. As markets develop in online sophistication, shoppers will consume a wider variety of marketing messages and information sources to make their purchase decision which increasingly influences their brand and product choice. As a result, marketers must develop ever more effective strategies to engage with their consumers.

To me the underlying message is if you’re not already looking at social media and ‘web 2.0’ for marketing your business then you really should begin to do so.

The executive summary of the report can be downloaded here or by visiting the EIAA web site.

(Via Multilingual Search)