With so much of our time each day spent at work it stands to reason that a bit more goes on at the office than work, and recent research suggests that online shopping grabs a pretty large slice of that non-work time.

The research, commissioned by WorkPlace Media shows that nearly half of those surveyed had researched electronic purchases whilst at work. The figures are equally high for other sections of the online marketplace.

Electronics 47%
Clothing 40%
Restaurants 34%
Food and groceries 21%
Shoes 20%

You don’t just stop at researching at work

It doesn’t stop at researching your shopping either, as the survey revealed that some 29% of respondants actually bought things whilst at work on a regular basis.

“We’re spending more and more of our hours at work, so we’ve got to get more done, even if it involves personal stuff,” says Dan Wheeler, executive vice president of WorkPlace Media. “We’re all trying to get much more done during the workday, including researching and making purchases at work.”

Research, shop and then talk

Also of interest is that the survey revealed that people love to talk about their purchases with friends too, both pre and post purchase. We revealed a similar thing ourselves earlier in the week, with nearly half of you offering advice on purchases to friends and colleagues.

This latest research goes even further and suggests that 95.6% of respondents regularly or occasionally give advice to workmates about products and services, and 92.9% say they seek advice from peers before making purchases, which is great news for our reviews service here at MutualPoints.

So there you have it, people seem to do a whole lot of shopping research and buying whilst at work. How about you? Are you a workplace shopper? Do you talk with colleagues about purchases before and after shopping?

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review most etailers are doing it all wrong, rather than making it easy for the customer to get and pay for their goods and services, what we should be doing is engaging with the customer.

They found that whereas most managers believed a wide array of information is harmful to sales, the research revealed that users appreciated a range of information to help them search for solutions, whilst inviting them to think of the way the core products add value to their lives.

According to the findings while users who were looking to buy a car online wanted information about cars, they also wanted to learn about other related topics such as travel, sports, clothing, and finance while online shoppers for upmarket clothing might typically want information on art or even business.

Would you prefer a range of information on MutualPoints?  Or do you prefer to have information targeted around a particular product?

According to a recent ShopLocal survey consumers were window-shopping more in April, but being careful about their spending.

The survey reveals that 81% of shoppers are researching products online at least once a week.  Eighty-three percent of those who visit online retailer sites purchase within three weeks, according to the survey. Of these purchases, eighty-six percent occur in-store and fourteen percent online.

How do you shop?  Do you research online and buy offline?  What would pursuade you to shop online more?

The British economy is entering what Mervyn King yesterday called a difficult decade.  For years there have been websites available offering to donate money to charity on your behalf when you do things such as viewing adverts, searching the web and reading emails.

The one thing that stands out with each of these offerings is that all it takes is your time.  Users don’t stand to lose out financially from their activities.  Recently however a new cashback site has been launched that promises to donate all proceeds to charity.  GiveorTake promise to give 100% of the advertising revenue that the site makes when you shop online using their links.  They make their money from an annual £5 fee.

Is charitable giving something you would like to see more of in your cashback shopping?  Is it something you would like the option of switching off/on at your discretion?

We’d love to hear your views.