As a follow up to my previous post I wanted to share some compelling data from ComScore, the leader in online advertising metrics (take that Nielson Net/Ratings!).

Buyer Conversion Summary for Select Product Categories

Category Searched

 Buyer Conversion % of Buyers Converting Offline % of Buyers Converting Online
Average, All Categories 25% 63% 37%
Apparel & Accessories 43% 65% 35%
Toys & Hobbies 42% 88% 12%
Music/Movies/Videos 28% 83% 17%
Consumer Electronics 18% 84% 16%
Video Games & Consoles 17% 93% 7%
Jewelry & Watches 15% 75% 25%

Search and Display advertising have a stunning impact on offline purchases, which in the aggregate amounts to about 2 offline purchases for every one online purchase. When online display media often goes for $.25 or less per thousand impressions, this makes online display an incredible value in driving offline actions.

For more of the data:

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2006/03/Online_Impact_of_Offline_Buying