Report Indicates More Consumers Using Web for Furniture Shopping

September 11, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on September 2006 While many consumers remain reluctant to make big-ticket purchases such as furniture online, more and more are using the Internet as a key part of their shopping process, according to the August Consumer Behavior Report from PriceGrabber.com.

PriceGrabber is a Web-based shopping comparison engine that claims more than 21 million unique users a month and daily pricing supplied by more than 11,000 merchants.

PriceGrabber surveyed 1,417 online shoppers in June, and found that online merchant referrals for furniture rose 92 percent in the six months from December 2005 to June 2006. Seventy-four percent of respondents said they’ll research online before making their next furniture purchase, while 23 percent expect to increase their level of actual online purchasing in the furniture and major appliance categories.

The good news for retailers is that 91 percent of PriceGrabber’s respondents said they’ll most likely make their actual furniture purchase at a local retail store, but more than 80 percent said that an offer of free delivery would make them more likely to buy online.