Shoppers Move Online to Buy Furniture and Appliances

PriceGrabber.com(R), an Experian company, explores home furniture and appliance shopping trends in its latest Consumer Behavior Report, which tracks shopping trends from its leading comparison shopping site along with data from a survey of 1,417 online shoppers.

Recent trends show that consumers are migrating online to shop for furniture, appliances and home furnishings, both to research and complete purchases of large and small-ticket items. Market Reporter, PriceGrabber.com's market research database, shows a 92 percent increase in merchant referrals over the past six months to retailers in the furniture category and a 50 percent increase in merchant referrals for major appliances.

Although furniture traditionally is a look and feel purchase, consumers now are willing to purchase items such as sofas, patio furniture and tables online in addition to buying from a brick-and-mortar store. From shopper behavior over the past few months, it appears that shoppers are doing their homework by researching online for sales, lower tax rates and free shipping.

"Savvy consumers for quite some time have been taking advantage of the convenience and savings of buying big-ticket electronic items such as TVs and computers online. So it is natural to see online shoppers also embrace the convenience, selection and pricing that is now more readily available through the Internet for other large-ticket items," said Kamran Pourzanjani, president of PriceGrabber.com.

According to the survey of online shoppers at PriceGrabber.com, the top three motivations to go online for home furniture and appliance shopping include finding better prices, the convenience of shopping when you want, and the ability to shop from home and avoid crowds at stores and malls. Of those surveyed, 23 percent stated that they expect to buy more products online for their home within the next 12 months. These survey results are aligned with a recent JupiterResearch forecast that predicts steady growth for online spending for furniture, with a 17.4 percent growth from 2005 to 2010 (Jupiter Research Internet Shopping Model, 11/05 U.S. only).

Online retailers also support these findings. "Buying furniture on the Internet is here to stay and growing fast as consumers embrace the channel for furniture," said Scott Perry, CEO of EverythingFurniture.com. "Our online business has increased more than 1,000 percent over the past three years, landing us in Inc. magazine's top 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. this year."

The following are the top 10 home furniture and appliance products searched for on PriceGrabber.com:

1. Maytag MG5765QDQ 30 inch gas freestanding range From $600

2. Manhattan Chocolate queen platform bed From $140

3. South Shore juvenile bunk bed From $171

4. Le Domaine d'Elegance bedroom furniture set in dijon From $4,073

5. Bryce two piece sectional sofa From $1,200

6. Loft Sectional 1 sofa From $7,080

7. Woodard FLC Trinida five piece conversation patio set From $400

8. Timeless Traditions pedestal dining table From $862

9. Redmond seven piece living room set From $1,300

10. Overture Oak bedroom furniture set From $4,075

PriceGrabber.com plans to track the expected online shopping growth trends for furniture and appliances in the coming 12 months. To view the full Consumer Behavior Report on Home Furniture and Appliance Trends, which includes insight into the value of free shipping offers, the top reasons why shoppers will not purchase furniture online and the heavy reliance shoppers place on doing online research before making offline purchases, please visit PriceGrabber.com at http://mr.pricegrabber.com .

About PriceGrabber.com

PriceGrabber.com, part of Experian InteractiveSM, has established itself as one of the most trusted and effective online comparison shopping services, allowing approximately 21 million consumers each month to search and compare information that enables them to find the right product from the right retailer at the best price. Through continued innovation and a consistent focus on providing the best comparison shopping experience on the Internet, PriceGrabber.com provides savvy shoppers access to millions of unique products and services from thousands of retailers and sellers in 22 product and service channels. The company also powers comparison shopping functionality for a network of leading Internet sites, including MSN Shopping, AskJeeves, About.com and Comcast. The company offers comparison shopping in English (at http://www.pricegrabber.com), Spanish (at http://www.preciomania.com) and Portuguese (at http://www.precomania.com) as well as international sites in Canada and the United Kingdom.

NOTE: PriceGrabber.com is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. PriceGrabber is a registered trademark, and PriceGrabber.com and BottomLinePrice are trademarks of PriceGrabber.com, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Prices quoted above were taken from third-party merchant listings on the PriceGrabber.com Web site. PriceGrabber.com disclaims any and all liability regarding the prices quoted for the stated products in this press release, including their accuracy and/or availability. PriceGrabber.com is in no way offering to the public the products at the prices quoted in this press release or otherwise.

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