CPG marketers who increase their online marketing efforts can more effectively engage a highly desirable market of affluent customers, particularly women, according to the "How America Searches: Consumer Packaged Goods" study, the fifth in a series commissioned by digital marketing agency iCrossing and conducted by Harris Interactive.

In terms of the frequency of search activity among online adults in the U.S., 39 percent say they have performed a search for CPGs online - on par with real estate and financial products and services - according to the study.

However, online advertising accounts for less than one percent of the total advertising spend by CPG marketers, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Women lead in CPG search activity: They are more likely than men to search online for seven of the 11 CPG product categories presented to survey respondents. Footwear & apparel was the most popular CPG category among both male and female online searchers.

Online CPG searches drive offline sales, the study found. Research into special offers and looking for coupons that can be used in stores were the most frequently cited reasons for searching for CPGs (60 percent and 52 percent, respectively). About two-thirds or more of those who search for nearly all types of consumer packaged goods indicated they would buy the product type somewhere - either online or offline.

Site preferences generate opportunities: CPG searchers make nearly equal use of search engines (67 percent), retailer websites (61 percent) and product/company sites (61 percent) to search for CPGs online. Only 26 percent go to shopping comparison sites and only 19 percent go to product ratings sites for CPG information.