In its latest Consumer Behavior Report, PriceGrabber.com, an Experian company, found that consumers are migrating online to shop for furniture,


appliances and home furnishings, both to research and buy large and small-ticket items. The report tracks shopping trends from its comparison shopping site along with data from a survey of 1,417 online shoppers. 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 retail store purchases. It appears shoppers are doing more homework before shopping, researching online for sales, lower tax rates and free shipping.

According to the survey, the top three motivations to go online for home furniture and appliance shopping are finding better prices, the convenience of shopping when you want, and the ability to shop from home. Twenty-three percent of survey respondents said they expect to buy more products online for their home within the next 12 months. A recent JupiterResearch forecast similarly predicts that online spending for furniture will experience a 17.4 percent growth from 2012 to 2017.