I'm trying to identify any independant market research which
demonstrates that the internet is being increasingly used for purchase
decision support. I'm specifically interested in the UK as I
understand there was a survey published on the BBC web site earlier in
the year

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 08 Nov 2002 02:37 PST

Decision support in medicine? in business? in other fields?

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Clarification of Question by jcs2000-ga on 08 Nov 2002 02:58 PST

general consumer products would be excellent but health, automotive,
electronics also useful.

Internet Now A Vital Tool For Aussie Car Buyers

Hello Jcs2000,

Thanks for your question.

The answer to your question seems to be a resounding yes.  I have some
articles and research that basically says that the Internet is a very
underused tool in helping consumers make their offline purchasing
decisions.  It is increasing being used for product research in
virtually every category of product, especially for cars and
electronics.

Internet now a vital tool for Aussie car buyers
http://www.globalreviews.com.au/press19082002.asp

Shopping Research
http://xtramsn.co.nz/homepage2/staticImages/advertising/PDF/ShoppingResearch.pdf

CARS.COM RESEARCH SHOWS INTERNET INCREASES CAR PURCHASE SATISFACTION
http://www.classifiedventures.com/news/press/pr020799cars.html

Jupiter Research Shows Online-Direct and Online-Influenced New Auto
Sales to Exceed $128 Billion in 2004
http://www.jmm.com/xp/jmm/press/2000/pr_080700.xml

Women's Use of Internet Affects Purchasing Decisions
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2001/Apr01/04-09PurchasePR.asp

Online war price threatens high-street retailers' profits
http://uk.pricerunner.com/Display.jsp?name=article33

Car Makers and Dealers in Discord over their 
E-Business Future, Survey Shows
http://www.ca.cgey.com/news/press_releases/pr_oct10_01.htm

Internet Consumers and market research
http://sbm-connect.tees.ac.uk/ecommerce/Presentations%20(PDF%20&%20PPP%20&%20DOC)%20Files/Printer%20PDF%20Files/Lecture%203%20Internet%20Consumers%20and%20Market%20Research.pdf

INTERNET RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE PRODUCT SALES THAN REALISED
http://www.ie.cgey.com/news/pr99/internet.html

Buying expensive products on the Internet
http://conference.eicar.org/past_conferences/2001/papers/other/Perlusz_Sorensen.pdf

East Anglian motorists love used cars
http://www.edp24.co.uk/Content/Motors/content.asp?CID=100

Search Terms Used:  internet "purchasing decision" consumer, UK
internet "purchasing decision" consumer, e-commerce market research
Search Method: www.google.com

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

watershed-ga

I asked about cell phone service providers a few hours ago on
www.abuzz.com a few hours ago, and have two replies already, one of
them very helpful. Likely I would have gotten the same result from
answers.google for $2.50, but abuzz is free, sometimes with ten useful
opinions, and 30 not useful opinions. Clearly answers.google is best
for some questions. I think it is foolish to make big decissions
without getting some opinions. Ocassionly even an intelegence-impared
person will inspire a consideration everyone else missed.  My personal
view is the advertising industry (internet and other) has destoyed
their credibility by accepting ads which make doubtful claims.   Neil

thanks for this...my view is similar to yours - that's why my client
is interested in search engine listing rather than pay for placement.

when i do my next google question can I ask for you?