The vast majority (83%) of tweens (those age 10-14), spend at least an hour online per day, compared with 68% reporting they watch an hour of TV per day, according to an ROI research study commissioned by DoubleClick Performics, writes Chief Marketer.
Radio (29%), magazines (10%) and newspapers (5%) were less popular among tweens, writes DoubleClick SVP of search operations Stuart Larkins.
The research studied the online search and purchase behavior of various demographic segments across 10 product categories. Some 1,000 panelists from eReward’s active members responded to the survey.
Search
- A minimum of 40% of tweens reported using search to gather more info about products/services about which they’d seen an ad.
- Some 78% said they use Google most often; 14% cited Yahoo instead.
- More than a third of tweens said search results have had “extreme impact” on their decision to purchase apparel.
Product Categories
The top product category of interest to tweens is apparel; they report shopping for apparel on average 8.2 times over the previous six months, for electronics 4.5 times, home furnishings 4.4 times.
Among the apparel and electronics categories, the following are the items that tweens primarily recommend or purchase:
- Apparel: Everyday/casual clothes, footwear and accessories
- Electronics: MP3 players, videogaming systems and digital cameras
Search is an integral of the online and offline shopping process, according to DoubleClick. Fore example:
- More than half said they use search to determine where to purchase apparel offline
- 80% typically search for apparel brand names
- Two-thirds use search to find the best price for electronics
- Though 71% of tweens’ home-furnishing purchase take place offline, 52% of those purchases involved search.
Online Behavior
- 87% of those who go online more than three times a day (nearly half of tweens do) spend at a minimum half an hour online each time. Six in 10 visit social-network sites at least once a day.
- Seven in 10 have a social-networking profile, more than 5 in 10 have a profile on MySpace, more than 3 in 10 have a profile on Facebook.
- Less than 4 in 10 reported reading blogs frequently or occasionally.
