Although "Super Buyers" are highly connected and mobile-savvy, they tend to mix and match their shopping with online and offline methods to find just what they want, according to a report by Forrester Research.
In its report titled the "North American Technographics Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle," Forrester outlines three categories of American shoppers: Super Buyers, Connected Traditionalists, and Traditionalists:
- Super Buyers constitute 17% of online adults in the US. They tend to be early adopters of technology, and 63% are male.
- Connected Traditionalists make up 25% of online adults and skew female (53%).
- Traditionalists constitute the majority of online adults (59%), and also skew female (56%).
Below, other findings from Forrester Research.
Interestingly, though Super Buyers are far more likely than other online adults to shop from new channels such as mobile, tablet, and Internet-connected TV, they also use traditional shopping channels such as print catalogs and infomercials on TV.
For example, 40% of Super Buyers say they're likely to shop via mobile device over the next three to six months, compared with only 13% of Connected Traditionalists who say the same. Meanwhile, 34% of Super Buyers say they're also likely to shop via TV (shopping channel or infomercial), compared with only 4% of Connected Traditionalists:
Clearly, for many consumers, the shopping experience has moved beyond a single in-store or digital experience, to an experience involving multiple channels.
About the data: For the North American Technographics Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle (Buy Phase) Survey, Q1 2012 (US), Forrester conducted an online survey fielded in March 2012 of 4,501 US adults age 18-88.
