Over 80% of Romanians who buy clothes online are undecided about the brand when they start the search, according to a Millward Brown study conducted at Google Romania’s request.

Romanian online shoppers pay more attention to promotions and trends, but most of them need more than a week after the first search to  make the purchase.

The main sources of information are, in order, the clothing store (78%), the Internet (68%) and family and friends (52%).

Three out of five fashion shoppers seek information both online and at the stores. Over 80% search information online before going to the store, 18% make online searches while at the store and 58% go online for information after they’ve been at the store, reports local Hotnews.ro.

Eight out of ten shoppers visit clothing sites, the study reveals. 45% visit 2-4 sites, 31% go to more than five sites, 7% visit one site and 17% don’t go to any site.

On average, Romanian shoppers visit a site three times before they decide what to buy. In terms of time, six out of ten shoppers need up to a week after the first search to make the purchase.

Over 40% of shoppers make searches online and buy offline. 61% do so because they want to try the item before purchasing it, 38% weren’t sure about the fabric, and 28% didn’t know what size to choose.

Half of those who search information online use the mobile phone to do so. They mostly search for information about the product’s characteristics (51%) and compare prices (60%). 34% of shoppers also watch videos to get informed.

The study was conducted at the end of 2014 on a sample of 800 people aged 18-54.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com