MANILA, 22 MAY, 2013 – A study commissioned by Google has helped turn a longstanding piece of wisdom on its head. Many think that women make most purchases according to whim or impulse, such as those who are supposedly instinctive purchasers even of goods such as shampoos, soap or diapers. However, said study has determined that the Internet – utilized prior to in-store interaction – has a considerable role to play as regards these decisions.
The principle of the First Moment of Truth or FMOT was coined some years ago by Procter and Gamble, and states that shoppers’ make their decisions to purchase within seconds after the first moment of encountering the product on a store shelf or other such real-life situation.
However, recent studies have determined that, thanks to the Internet, the decision to purchase is made at the Zero Moment of Truth or ZMOT – the online decision-making moment during which a would-be shopper uses an Internet-connected device to search for information about a product. This information helps influence a would-be buyer to decide to buy even before he or she encounters the actual product.
The Google-commissioned study had many pertinent observations, including the following:
– Fully 3 out of 4 female Filipino users of the internet make use of ZMOT resources to help them decide whether to buy or not. For instance, 82 percent used online information to help them pick babycare products, as did 69 percent of those considering skincare and cosmetics and 77 percent of those thinking about buying food and drink.
– Female Filipino net users purchasing food and drink make use of, on average, 6.2 resources (including social networks like Facebook [26 percent of these net users], search engines like Google [25 percent], and video platforms like YouTube [11 percent]).
The study also offered some recommendations regarding how advertisers and marketers could make the most out of ZMOT to ensure online visibility. For one, advertising on search engines was encouraged in order to increase online visibility. Additionally, given that many female Internet users used their mobile phones as shopping aids, to browse search engines or find good prices, mobile optimization was further encouraged. Lastly, given that 74 percent of CPG shoppers viewed a video from an online video site every week, usage of online video was also encouraged.
