Product Demonstrations Survey: Even Online Shoppers Benefit From In-Store Demonstrations

AT&T announced this weekend the opening of a new flagship store in Chicago where customers can fully see and demonstrate a wide variety of tech products. Many tech companies provide customers with in-store product demonstrations or previews so that they can see their product in use before making their purchase. How do consumers feel about these product demonstrations, and how often do they impact buying decisions?

Electronics Shoppers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 7% of consumers said they purchase electronics at least once per month. 25% said they make electronics purchases once every few months. 29% said they purchase electronics about once per year. 17% said they buy electronics once every few years. 19% said they buy electronics very rarely. And just 3% said they never make electronics purchases.

In-Store Purchases

Of those who buy electronics, 35% said they always buy those products in a store. 16% said they always purchase electronics online. And 47% said they buy electronic products both in stores and online.Overall, 76% of consumers said they think it is very important for electronics stores to have products on display so that customers can demonstrate and see how they work. 20% said they think product demonstrations are somewhat important. 3% said they are not very important, and just 1% said they are not important at all. Even 58% of those who just buy products online said they think it’s important for stores to have products on display for demonstrations.

Product Demonstrations

63% of those customers said they have had the chance to see or demonstrate their TV before buying it. 61% said they tried out their computer before buying it. 51% said they got to see their phone before buying it. 23% got to try out their tablet. 21% tried out their iPod or MP3 player. 30% have demonstrated other tech products before buying them. And 17% said they’ve had the opportunity to demonstrate other types of products before buying them.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Apple Store Regent Street from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on September 3 via AYTM’s online survey panel.