Nielson//Netratings: 18% of Buyers do 46% of Spending

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

Top Spenders Most Likely to Visit Shopping Comparison Sites

Dave’s Comments (Digital Marketing Tutorial Blog): ‘Tis the season for online retail consumer stats. This is a good study from Nielsen//NetRatings. It not only re-emphasizes the old adage that the majority of a retailer’s sales come from a minority of its Customers, but it also contains several new tidbits, including coining a new tagline for these folks (“MVP’s – Most Valuable Purchasers”) as well as providing some insight about how MVP’s arrive at the online retail sites to do their shopping (hint – MVP’s use online comparison shopping tools).

“Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, reported that nearly a fifth of the online buying population, or 18 percent, accounts for nearly half, or 46 percent, of total online spending. These buyers, dubbed “Most Valuable Purchasers” (MVPs) by Nielsen//NetRatings, spend more dollars online and make more purchases on the Internet than the rest of the online buying population.

The Nielsen//NetRatings MegaPanel online retail study segmented online shoppers into four categories based on the amount of their online spending (low or high) and their frequency of purchases (low or high). The MVPs, shoppers who spent the most money online and made the largest number of purchases, comprised 18 percent of the online buyers, driving 46 percent of total online spending (see Table 1). In comparison, those spending the fewest dollars online and making the fewest purchases made up the majority, or 55 percent, of online buyers; this group accounted for 21 percent of online purchases.

“Each retailer needs to analyze its own customer base to identify its respective MVPs and develop targeted marketing programs that will maximize revenue from these shoppers,” said Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. “Not only are the MVPs valuable based upon sales and number of purchases, they are also inordinately loyal to the retailers that they purchase from.””

Read the entire news release on NetRatings.com.