A new research shows that as much as 64% of online shoppers tend to rely on social information sources. Online professional reviews, Consumer generated reviews & feedback from family, friends & colleagues are the prominent sources for pre purchasing online products, with emphasis on Electronics products.

The COMPETE.com blog 'Online Shopper Intelligence study' provides powerful insight into the complete online shopping experience (BLOG compete.com). Not surprisingly, it turns out the over 94% of online shoppers tend to perform pre-sale online research and that 61% of them use search engine as their main tool for data mining. having said that, it is important to emphasize that level of online research tends to vary according to the type of product.

As those numbers are quite high, it is time for most online (And offline, for that matter) retailers to properly utilize the full potential of the web. Especially by providing in-depth information about their products, encouraging customers to post feedbacks & recommendations and not neglecting to reply each and every online feedback. Also, online retailers need to make better usage of review blogs and might consider creating their own professional blog.

But, although social websites play a key part in the online shopping experience it is important to remember that shoppers mostly get there by using search engines - Either to collect information (As mentioned above) or for the actual purchase process.