The Science of “Path to Purchase” for Consumer Electronics

Although many purchases begin online, the fact remains that a strong brand experience is still relevant to converting shoppers, especially for products that lend themselves to trials, such as consumer electronics.

Here’s how marketers woo you to shop for your next electronics purchase:

1. 85% of consumers start by researching online, so retailers use their websites to start the pitch.

2. The pitch: A. “Let me tell you why this is relevant.” B. “Let me tell you why you should get it.” C. “Here’s why you should go to our store to buy it.”

3. Once in the store, the classic “30-10-3” principle kicks in: understand the category from 30 feet away, get a sense of subcategories and brand from 10 feet away, receive price points and conversion offers from 3 feet away.

4. Now the experience takes over: a product-educated sales team and lots of hands on demonstrations lead to purchase.

To find out what specific retailers such as Best Buy, Target and Staples are doing to help encourage purchase, see the May edition of Shopper Marketing Magazine.