Confessions of a Salesman

Before getting into more details with selling strategies on the Internet, I thought it might be interesting, especially for those who are not so familiar with the Internet, to put a few facts together and also to get a better ‘feel’ for the Internet.

There is no question about it, more and more people are using the Internet both to research and make purchases.

While getting evidence that is directly related to the use of the Internet by buyers of home improvement products is not particularly easy, I did find the following interesting statistic from the USA.

In 2005 The National Association of Realtors (NAR®) Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers claimed that 93% of all consumers contacting a Realtor® for information used the Internet to search first. You may have pre-conceptions of the average Internet customer. I certainly did. So below I have listed the facts and statistics, some of which may surprise you.

The Internet buyer profile
1. Younger
2. Better educated (47% are college grads/21% post grad degree)
3. Not a lot of time (buy twice as fast). Expect a response in 90 minutes or less!
4. Familiar with buying process
5. Spend 50% more than average
6. Do need advice
7. Don't drive around and preview (55%)
8. Don't use newspapers (84%)
9. Don't pick up flyers, brochures and home magazines (79%)
10. Look for community and property information (88%)
11. 42% are first time buyers

While what real estate agents may be experiencing is not exactly related to home improvements I am sure the PROFILE is very similar and I think it is a fair guide to what is going on now in the UK in 2007. (I would say on average the UK lags two years behind the USA in Internet stats.)

As you can hopefully see, Internet buyers are more sophisticated than the average buyer – they usually also earn more and, in my experience, are also likely to spend more.

Some more eye-opening facts:

According to National Statistics Online...

'An estimated 13.9 million households (57 per cent) in Great Britain could access the Internet from home between January and April 2006. This is an increase of 2.9 million households (26 per cent) since 2002, and 0.6 million (5 per cent) over the last year. Including Northern Ireland, the number of households with Internet access in the United Kingdom in 2006 was 14.3 million. The region with the highest percentage of households with Internet access was the South East with 66 per cent. The area with the lowest access level was Scotland with 48 per cent.'

According to a May 18, 2007 Hitwise UK report...

"Silver Surfers” aged 55+ are poised to become the largest age demographic of Internet users in the UK. Heather Hopkins, VP of Research for Hitwise UK, reports that this population segment has grown 54% over the last two years, now comprising 29% of the Internet usage in the UK.'

According to a 08 Mar 2006 report featured on the UK Association of Online Publishers website (AOP)...

Internet usage overtakes TV viewing!

For the first time, using the internet has overtaken watching TV as the UK's favourite activity. According to research conducted by TNS, two-thirds of users increased the amount of time they spend online over the last year.

The research, sponsored by Google, reveals that a typical user spends 164 minutes a day online, compared with 148 minutes spent watching television. With the increasing popularity of online communities and shopping online at an all-time high (an average of £446 per user every year), surfing the internet is proving to be perhaps THE most favoured pastime! This means that TV, magazines and newspapers are not the lead-generating forces that they once were.

Winning With Internet leads

The Pros and Cons