Consumers who search online for televisions and digital cameras on average choose to spend 10 percent more when making their purchase in-store, compared with those who did not use a search engine, according to new research from Yahoo and ChannelForce, MarketingCharts reports.

The survey examined how consumers buy electronics offline and found that a vast majority research products online prior to making in-store purchases.

Key findings from the study:

• The internet is the top resource for researching digital cameras and televisions:
  • 75 percent who researched their purchases before visiting a retail location used the internet as their primary source of information.
  • The leading online resources were retail websites (73 percent), manufacturer websites (68 percent) and search engines (49 percent).
• Consumers who use search engines to research online spend more:
  • This group is a valuable target for marketers because these consumers are highly engaged, using twice as many sources as non-searchers - and they end up spending about 10 percent more.
  • Those who search spend an average of $31 more on digital cameras and $46 more on digital camera packages.
  • On average, they spend $139 more on TVs and $190 on TV packages.
• The vast majority of those who research have already made key decisions about their purchases before they arrive at the store:
  • Some 80 percent of consumers who research before making a purchase say they ended up buying a brand from their original consideration set.
  • The remaining 20 percent say the in-store sales person was highly influential in their decision.
• Despite the education on brands, consumers are often unsure about the advanced features of the product: About 75 percent of people did not know the model they wanted when they walked into a retail store.

"This study confirms and quantifies that a more informed consumer is a more valuable consumer," said David Rubinstein, senior director, technology and telecommunications category, Yahoo Search Marketing. "Manufacturers have a huge opportunity here - even if they don't sell products online, their online efforts are impacting what people are buying in stores."