Companies most likely to succeed at online retailing are those that make the best use of affiliate networks, search engine marketing, lead generation and ad networks, according to a survey from JupiterResearch.
Specifically, the survey found that:
*Ninety-five percent of higher spenders--those spending an average of $2,203 online in the last 12 months--look to multiple sites when researching a product purchase.
*A full 87% of all U.S. online buyers visited multiple Web sites before making their most recent purchase online.
*Social and community sites affected the purchase decisions of 51% of online shoppers aged 18-24. This is far beyond any other age group, which averaged less than 26%.
*A total of 36% of online shoppers influenced by social/community sites said they buy offline even though they use online social/community sites to make their decisions.
The survey polled 1,044 Internet users in December.