UK Mums are big users of online retail sites for beauty products
In the UK women between the ages of 25 and 54 who have children living in the household are more likely to visit retail sites on the internet than other users.
According to the research, this demographic is 30 per cent more likely than the average internet use to visit online retailers of fragrances and cosmetics.
Within a month, the 4.6m UK Mums that went on line, spent an average of 27.6 hours online and made an average of 52.6 visits per visitor.
"Mums in the UK not only spend a great deal of time online each month, but they also control the purse strings for many families," said Mike Read, SVP and managing director, comScore Europe.
According to Read, this is a demographic that marketers should be focusing on.
"It's clear from their heavy visitation of retail sites that mums represent an important shopping segment , so it is critical for marketers and retailers to understand how to reach this audience online and influence their spending behaviour - both online and offline."
According to comScore’s research, the most popular retail sites were the Amazon sites, making up a third of all online visits, followed by the Home Retail Group at 22 per cent.
Converting researchers into buyers
One of the challenges for online beauty retailers is to convert those who spend time on the internet researching products into those that buy.
A lot of people use the internet as a research tool before buying offline in stores, said comScore's James Gavin.
"This is changing, however. As people become more comfortable giving out their credit card details over the internet and trusting the postal system it will become more of the norm," he told CosmeticsDesign.
