Social Network Visitors Like Shopping Online: Survey

Social network Web site visitors are highly likely to make luxury product purchases and use the Internet for shopping, according to survey findings released by Unity Marketing.

More than 40% of consumers who made at least one luxury product purchase in the last three months have visited sites such as Facebook.com, YouTube.com and MySpace.com. Demographically speaking, such buyers are 43 years old and have a $150,200 income.

"Young affluents, those 40 and under, were the most active social networkers, but one-third of consumers over 40 reported visiting a social networking Web site," said Pam Danzinger, president of Unity Marketing, in a statement.

Besides making purchases, consumers frequently go online to compare prices, evaluate product features and read reviews from previous customers. The Internet played a role in more than half (52%) of luxury home product purchases. Forty-six percent of the individuals surveyed used the Internet in connection with purchases of apparel, cosmetics, jewelry and watches.

Among non-shoppers, 35% reported than inflexible policies related to product returns and exchanges discouraged them from shopping online.