•  Yahoo! expert reveals dramatic impact of internet on shopping patterns

• Internet based research means that average time spent in car dealership is now 23 minutes compared to average time spent clothes shopping of 40 minutes

• “Ireland needs to tackle broadband penetration or risk economic downturn”

Miles Lewis, Head of Sales, Yahoo! UK and Ireland and Maria Mahon, former Chief Executive of Irish Jobs.i.e.and Chairman of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, "sharing a joke" - in the parlance of the trade - before the start of the National Marketing Conference, in Dublin today.

The use of the internet by car buyers to do “pre-purchase research” on models, extras and prices has transformed how people shop for cars according to Miles Lewis  Head of Sales, Yahoo! UK and Ireland.  Lewis said that independent research had found that the because of the growth of internet “pre-purchase research”, the average time spent in car dealerships had fallen to 23 minutes while the average time spent shopping for clothes was still as high as 40 minutes.

Lewis was speaking at the National Marketing Conference organised by The Marketing Institute of Ireland in Dublin today.   The research was undertaken by Nielson NetRating, a leading research agency in Internet media.

According to Lewis, the experience of car buying was a key example of the transformation which the internet is leading in terms of how and where people shop.

According to Lewis, the research suggests that when it comes to buyer decision making the dealership internet site may be more persuasive than the car salesman.

The NNR research showed that the average number of visits to car dealership, per purchase, has fallen from 7 in 2000 to just 1.5 in 2005, a trend that is set to continue with the average number of visits forecast to fall to just 0.5 by 2015.  Citing the increased sophistication of buyer research when choosing a car, Lewis suggests that in many cases the prospective buyer will have made a decision on every detail of the car they want to purchase before they even step into a showroom.

Lewis said, “Car buyers now use the internet as a way of comparing brands and dealers at a time that is convenient to them.  The sophistication of many car manufacturers and dealer sites allow prospective buyers to build the model they want around their own requirements, take a virtual test drive and most importantly research their purchase before entering the ‘hard sell’ environment of the car showroom.”

Addressing the conference, Lewis suggested that Ireland needs to ensure that it continues to tackle the numbers of people who can access broadband services nationwide, “The number of Irish people who have access to the internet is very poor when compared to other European countries.  A dynamic and ambitious economy, such as the economy of Ireland needs to ensure that it keeps pace with technological developments.  Ideally, when it comes to internet development and commitment, Ireland should be setting an example for the rest of Europe but instead it is lagging behind and while this has not significantly impacted the economy to date it seems it is bound to in the medium to long term.”