Social media impacts consumer purchases

Only 18% of Americans were very likely or completely likely to post their latest ailment on social media, but for those who did post, 40% of their friends were quick to make an over-the-counter recommendation, according to a survey conducted in July by Field Agent on behalf of Drug Store News. And about half the time, those who posted that they were under the weather listened to their friends’ recommendations and made a purchase as a result.

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Women were slightly more likely than men to post about their condition (19% versus 16%), but men received more recommendations than women (43% versus 40%). However, when it came to acting on those recommendations, women ventured out and purchased a symptom reliever based on their friends’ recommendation 55% of the time, versus 44% of the time for men.

And age definitely plays a role — both millennials and Gen Xers were more likely to post their conditions on social media (between 18% and 20% for those younger than 54 years), as compared with seniors older than 55 years, none of whom would post their condition on a social site.

The survey of 250 respondents was conducted in late July by Field Agent, which provides business information and consumer insights by leveraging traditional methodologies and in corporating new, cutting-edge crowd-sourcing and mobile technologies to deliver real-time information about purchasing behavior and attitudes. As many as 62% of the respondents were women, and 39% were millennials between the ages of 25 years and 34 years. To learn more about Field Agent, visit FieldAgent.net.