ropo in poland

The mul(ple-‐branch research of ROPO effect

The Internet as a deciding source of the information in the purchase process

Methodological note

The research was conducted by IMAS Interna(onal Company on 5-‐12 of May 2011, using CATI telephone interviews on a sample of n = 1000 adult Poles. The selec(on of respondents was carried out using the random-‐quota method, which generated numbers of phones using RDD (random digit dialing) and then obtaining a certain number of respondents appointed by the variables: gender, age, educa(on, region and size of the city. The research is representa(ve for the adult popula(on of Poles living in Poland.

The introduction

For some time, the marketing world is fascinated by the results of some research, that provide lots of examples about relationships between searching the information about the products in the Internet and buying them in the real world. ROPO effect (Research Online, Purchase Offline) describes a part of purchase behavior, which involve searching information about the products in the Internet, and then purchase them at the real shop.

Our goal was to establish in which branches the Internet is a decisive source of the information about the products. In contrast to the previously published studies based on a research of only the part of the market (for example ROPO effect only in Retail or Travel Section), the aim of our study was to provide a wide information and facts. We wanted to establish in which industries the ROPO effect occures and how strong it is.

What the report is about We studied the purchase behaviour connected with 25 different branches, beginning from buying books through the Internet, the music, the electronic equipment to the financial products and the car accessories. Presenting results of this study, we want to show what is the way of purchasing these products and what is the main source of the information about them.

We decided to divide the purchasing process in two dimensions. •  The first dimension is determined by

the place of purchase - online or offline.

•  The second dimension concerns the main source of the information. We researched where the client searches the main information about the product, MAINLY online or offline

Based od 1000 similary interviews we prepared the list, which clearly assigns the purchase to one of the four group.

How we studied ROPO?

Traditional shopping,

the decision based on the data offline.

Online shopping. The Internet as a decisive source of the information.

Traditional shopping.

The Internet as a decisive source of the information.

(ROPO)

Online shopping, the decision based on the data offline.

The direct impact of the Internet on total sale.

Meet Marysia, she likes shopping.

The following example will ilustrate how our research looked like:

•  It was a May afternoon…

•  We asked Marysia, whether in the last twelve months has bought clothes or shoes.

She answered:

We established that in the last year, 88% of our responders bough clothes or shoes.

CONVERSATION WITH MARYSIA

YES!

Next, we asked if she remember her LAST purchase of clothes or shoes (whatever it was).

Did you buy a thing throuht the Internet or in a traditional way?

95% among all the customers, bought clothes or shoes in a traditional way (offline).

CONVERSATION WITH MARYSIA

In a traditional way – I went do the shop and I bought a thing.

About clothes or shoes, the Internet is the main source of the information, for 4,1% of all buyers.

CONVERSATION WITH MARYSIA How did you get the information that helped you to decide what to buy?

I was talking with friends, looking through the newspapers and the Internet…

OK. Which of these sources of the information had the biggest influence on

your purchase?

The Internet. When I came across ‚that thing’, I just had to have it.

THE RESULTS

25 shopping areas

The responders gave their opinion about a very popular and often buying products (clothes, shoes, cosmetics) and products whose are buying rarely such a photo equipment, computer software and others. Further analysts are based on people who bought something in the last 12 months.

91% 88% 88%

51% 50% 50%

48% 45%

42% 42%

39% 39% 39%

31% 25% 25%

24% 22% 22% 22% 21%

18% 18%

13% 13%

lekarstwa lub artykuły medyczne odzież/obuwie

kosmetyki lub środki do pielęgnacji ubezpieczenie OC/ AC

książki zabawki

meble lub elementy wyposażenia domu bilety do kina lub na różne wydarzenia

telefon komórkowy lub abonament telefonu małe AGD (np. żelazka, czajniki, patelnie)

dodatki do odzieży (np. biżuteria, zegarek) części samochodowe

akcesoria samochodowe sprzęty sportowe lub turystyczne

bilety lotnicze lub kolejowe urządzenia RTV - np. telewizor, radio, wieża wyjazd urlopowy lub wycieczka zagraniczna

duże AGD (np. pralki, lodówki, zmywarki) muzyka na CD lub w postaci pliku mp3

film na płycie DVD lub Blue-Ray podzespoły lub akcesoria komputerowe

kredyt lub pożyczka bankowa oprogramowanie lub gry komputerowe

rezerwacja w pokoju hotelowym aparat fotograficzny lub kamera

Which of these products did you buy personally at least once in the last 12 months?

Medicines nad medical products The decisive source of the information: online offline

Purchase online offline 0,3%

0,8% 1,4%

The Internet has a direct impact on 2,5 % of total sales

97,6%

The most important

information collected offline and purchase

offline.

n=904 buyers

Too liVle basis to present a graph of selected sources of online informa(on .

The most frequent sources of the informa=on: offline

Friends/family

I decided in the shop, during shopping

From the salesman

I had the knowledge from the previous shopping

Clothes and shoes

Purchase online offline

1,7%

2,4% 2,4%


93,5%

The most important


offline.

n=881 buyers

n=37 searching online, n=844 searching offline

The decisive source of the information: online offline

The most frequent sources of the informa=on: online The most frequent sources of the informa=on: offline


The offer in the shop

Friends/family


Internet auc(on

Web search engine

Online store

Cosmetics or personal care products The decisive source of the information: online offline


1,3% 2,2%


96,2%

The most important


offline.

n=876buyers




I read a leaflet


Online store

Web search engine


Car insurance The decisive source of the information: online offline


2,2% 2,1%


94,0%

The most important


offline

n=511 buyers


Producer website

Web search engine


From the salesman

Friends/family



Books The decisive source of the information: online offline


7,0% 6,9%


82,3%

The most important


offline

n=500 buyers


I decided in the shop, during the shopping

Friends/family

The other way


Web search engine

Online store

Internet auc(on


Toys The decisive source of the information: online offline


4,3% 3,1%


91,2%

The most important


offline.

n=498 buyers


I decided in the shop during shopping

Family/friends


I read a leaflet

Web search engine

Internet auc(on

Online store


Furnitures and other home items The decisive source of the information: online offline


4,7% 1,6%


87,4%

The most important


offline.

n=479 buyers


Web search engine

Producer website

Internet auc(on



I read a leaflet

Family/friends


Cinema tickets The decisive source of the information: online offline


14,1%

8,5% 6,7%


70,7%

The most important


offline.

n=448 buyers


Web search engine

Producer website

In the other way

Friends/family

The television (ads or tv programs)


The press (ads or ar(cles)


Mobile phones or the subscriptions The decisive source of the information: online offline


4,1% 4,7%


85,0%

The most important


offline.

n=420 buyers



From the salesman

Friends/family


I decided in the shop

Web search engine

Producer website

Internet auc(on


The small household equipment (the iron, the frying pan or other) The decisive source of the information: online offline


5,1% 1,6%


92,1%

The most important


offline.

n=415 buyers




From the salesman

I read a leaflet

Internet auc(on

Online store

Web search engine


Clothing accessories (the jewelerry, watches) The decisive source of the information: online offline


4,3% 2,1%


91,4%

The most important


offline.

n=394 buyers




Friends/family

I read a leaflet

Internet auc(on

Web search engine

Online store


The car parts The decisive source of the information: online offline


9,0% 5,0%


84,4%

The most important


offline

n=391 buyers

n=42searching online, n=349 searching offline

From the salesman

The mechanic, workshop

Friends/family


Internet auc(on

Web search engine

Online store


The car accessories The decisive source of the information: online offline


4,2% 1,7%


93,5%

The most important


offline.

n=390 buyers




From the salesman


Web search engine

Internet auc(on


Sports and tourist equipment The decisive source of the information: online offline


12,1% 4,3%


78,1%

The most important


offline

n=306 buyers




Friends/family

I read a leaflet

Internet auc(on

Online store

Web search engine


The airline or railway tickets The decisive source of the information: online offline


5,1%

14,0% 10,5%


70,4%

The most important


offline.

n=253 buyers

n=50 searching online, n=203 searchingc offline

There was the need

From the salesman

Friends/family


In the other way

Producer website

Web search engine


Electronic equipment (TV, radio, stereo) The decisive source of the information: online offline


5,5% 1,9%


87,1%

The most important


offline

n=246 buyers



From the salesman

Friends/family

I read a leaflet

Online store

Web search engine


The holiday The decisive source of the information: online offline


19,2% 9,1%


63,7%

The most important


offline

n=235 buyers


Friends/family


From the salesman

In the other way

Web search engine

In the other way

Producer website


The household equipment (the washing machine, the fridge or other) The decisive source of the information: online offline


6,7% 0,7%


89,3%

The most important


offline.

n=222 buyers



From the salesman


I have the knowledge from the previous shopping

Web search engine

Online store


Music on CD or as MP3 file. The decisive source of the information: online offline


9,7% 8,1%


76,7%

The most important


offline

n=219 buyers



Friends/family



Web search engine

Internet auc(on

Online store


Films on DVD or Blue-Ray The decisive source of the information: online offline


6,9% 6,1%


82,9%

The most important


offline

n=216 buyers



Friends/family

In the other way


Web search engine

Online store


Computer components or accessories The decisive source of the information: online offline


15,9% 7,1%


70,7%

The most important


offline.

n=211 buyers



Friends/family

From the salesman


Internet auc(on

Web search engine

Online store


The bank credit The decisive source of the information: online offline


0,5%

1,3% 0,5%


97,7%

The most important


offline

n=178 buyers

n=173 searching offline

Too liVle basis to present a graph of selected sources of online informa(on.

From the salesman



Friends/family

The most frequent sources of the informa=on: offline

The software or the computer games The decisive source of the information: online offline


15,5% 11,6%


66,7%

The most important


offline.

n=177 buyers



Friends/family



Web search engine

Online store

Producer website


Booking a hotel room The decisive source of the information: online offline


11,8%

27,7% 10,5%


50,0%

The most important


offline.

n=130 buyers


Friends/family

I have the knowledge from the previous shopping

In the other way

From the salesman

Web search engine

Producer website


The camera The decisive source of the information: online offline


8,1% 4,7%


76,1%

The most important


offline

n=129 buyers


I decided in the shop

Friends/family

From the salesman


I read a leaflet

Web search engine

Internet forum

Price comparison website


THE CONCLUSIONS

•  Among the biggest online stores on developed markets, the leaders are the Internet equivalents of leading distributors and manufacturers. This trend came to Poland and is getting more and more stronger.

•  Most leaders already sell online. Some of them run their projects in the test phase, others can not imagine sells without network.

•  Cisco Systems Company sells almost only online.

99% of the company’s orders come from the electronic channel. Another brands follow Cisco in this area.

•  Thanks to the Internet traditional sallers can realize a number of strategies:

–  The direct sale – the most obvious one. –  Sale’s support of its partners, distributors and

points of sale. –  Creating an image, the product’s catalog,

increasing the visibility of the products. It means stronger presence on the Web, but without online sale.

–  Reduce customer’s service costs. Especially in the B2B stores. Then we do not generate new sales, but we transfer our current clients to ecommerce, to decrease the costs of the transaction.

–  Improving quality of the service. This option

will be addressed to the clients from companies, who appreciate the time.

The conclusions

•  Nowadays we can see a significant connection between online and offline. In the future these two channels will be integreted even better (through the mobile technology and extended reality).

•  On these days, companies that are strong in the offline channel have a huge chance to get success in the online one. Thanks to creation the effective channel of online sale, companies will strengthen its sales in the offline channel as well.

•  Every złoty spend on marketing will work for the

company in both channels. This will alllow to manage the marketing budget even more effectively.

•  On the other hand, the leading online stores may take one of two strategies:

–  A further escape to the world of innovations, what means the product’s transformation into digital products (for example Amazon or Kindle).

–  Searching opportunities to create the offline channels.

•  The future is the integration of online and offline channel and allowing customers easy transition from online through mobile to offline.

•  If you want to get some more information about

your branch – please contact us:

Tomasz Karwatka CEO Divante [email protected]

The conclusions

•  We received the confirmation that the impact of Internet on the type of behavior associated with the search for the information, then the place of purchase, is different depending on the type of product that is offered.

•  The highest percentage of people who buy offline,

but as a main source of infromation showed the Internet, is presented in the fallowing branches:

–  The camera: 11,1%, –  Booking a hotel room: 11,8%, –  Cinema tickets: 14,1%.

•  The lowest: –  The credit or the bank loan: 0,5%, –  Cosmetics or personal care products: 0,3%, –  Medicines nad medical articles: 0,3%.

From the perspective of the research, the project is the starting point for further and more detailes analysis.

We encourage you to discuss!

IMAS International

The conclusions

IMAS International Our company leads the market research and the research of public opinion in Poland and abroad – in Europe, Asia, America, Africa. Our clients – manufacturers, retailers, research institutes, the media, public institutions, non-governmental organizations – they all appreciate our professionalism, effectiveness and adjust the offer to their capabilities and needs. One of our greatest expertise is the Internet research and the research for the Internet. To get more information, please visit: www.imas.pl We invite you to cooperation!

Divante Divante takes up with the comprehensive realization of online sale. From creating the strategy through design to implementation and promotion. Our competence is also to optimize sales and marketing (usability, conversion, SEO) existing eBusiness. We also support our clients in reducing costs of infrastructure (the effective hosting) and Internal training. Nearly every fifth winner of Online Store Rating of Money.pl and Wprost is our client. We already realized projects about ROPO effect in branches of computers, electronics or health and beauty. Feel free to contact us. Tomasz Karwatka CEO Divante [email protected] www.divanteltd.com

Information about the companies

If you would like to get more detailed test results

for your branch – please contact us:

Tomasz Karwatka CEO Divante

[email protected]

dr Beata Pachnowska Vice-chairman IMAS International

[email protected]

Marcin Piwowarczyk The Director of Online Research IMAS International

[email protected]

More information?