Women Seek Out Online Coupons and Reviews Before Purchases, Study Finds

For today's digitally engaged woman, a shopping trip starts well before she arrives at the store. A new iVillage/SheSpeaks survey examines the growing role online information and opinion (and coupons!) plays in the decisions women make when they're out shopping. One part of the survey (fielded in late March and early April) asked women to identify things that are especially influential in their purchases of food, beauty and household products. "Online coupons" got the most mentions (cited by 68 percent of respondents), followed closely by "store coupons" (66 percent), "consumer reviews on shopping sites" (61 percent) and "recommendations from family/friends" (59 percent).