B2B Buyers' Online Research By Channel, October 2014 [CHART]

Some 94% of B2B buyers report conducting some degree of research online before making a business purchase, including 55% who do so for at least half of their purchases, finds the the latest annual State of B2B Procurement study from Acquity Group, part of Accenture Interactive. And while a growing proportion are now purchasing goods online, many are bypassing suppliers and buying from third-party sites.

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Interestingly, the tendency to research online is becoming so mainstream that it applies across most price points. For example, 40% conduct online research for a majority of goods priced under $10,000, and 31% do so at that frequency for goods costing at least $100,000. Online research also doesn’t necessarily need to be accompanied by sales representative involvement: respondents were about as likely to say that no sales person is necessary (10.4%) as they were to say they’d like to speak with someone directly in person (12.4%). (The remainder would like some form of phone or live chat support.) Read the rest at MarketingCharts.