Research on the Internet, Buy in the Local Store

This news from Internet Retailer about customers (like me) who prefer to research retail products online and buy them offline:

The practice of researching purchases online, then buying at a bricks-and-mortar store continues to gain momentum, according to a study commissioned by shopLocal.com, a provider of local search options for retailers. Among shoppers who hit the Internet before hitting the stores, 70% say they did it more in the fourth quarter of 2004 than during the comparable period the year before, the study says.
In a shopLocal.com report, shoppers who go to the web and then to the store are referred to as web-to-store or W2S shoppers. Among those consumers, 48% say they plan to do more web-to-store shopping this year than last. 34% of them expect to increase their online shopping, the report says.

Once or twice a week I find myself parking outside of a Starbucks (or other Wi-Fi hotspot) to check on a purchase before walking in a store to buy it.

My dream?

Borders gives me access to online reviews from Amazon while sitting in their store … on their own systems. Right now I have to walk out to the car, grab the laptop, head back into the store (which is T-Mobile’ed), check my reviews, and then buy.

Oh, what a world it would be………….

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