Web Insight: do you browse online, but then purchase in local stores?

How often, if ever, do you look at and shop for goods on the internet, but when it comes time to buy, you purchase from local stores?

If you are among the internet users to do so, you are not alone in this endeavor. It has been a consistently common activity for a strong majority of users for many years.

In the Center’s Digital Future Survey, we first asked this question in 2005. At that time, 70% of the internet users surveyed said that they “sometimes” looked at and shopped for goods on the Internet, but when it came time to buy, purchased from local stores.

Another 18 % said that they did this “often.” Only 12 said that they “never” engaged in this activity.

Thirteen years later, in our 2018 survey, 69% said that did this sometimes, 18% said often, and 13% said never.

This behavior has been remarkably consistent for well over a decade.

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September 16, 2019