Here at Child’s Play Communications, we knew from our experience connecting companies with moms in social media that the answer was yes, but we wanted to offer greater insight into how and to what degree social media influences what moms buy. Toward that end, we commissioned The NPD Group, a leading market research company, to conduct an in-depth survey of moms across the U.S. based on a series of questions we developed.  The just released  “Social Media Moms: How Networking Impacts Purchasing Behaviors” provides a comprehensive understanding  not only of  what motivates moms’ purchasing decisions but also of moms’ overall use of social media. Following are some key finding:

•  79% of all moms in the U.S. with children under the age of 18 are active in social media
•  Of these moms, about one in four (23%) said they have purchased a children’s product as a result of a recommendation from a social networking site or blog. 
•  Online recommendations have even more impact among the most frequent social media users: 43% of active social media moms who use these sites on a daily basis have purchased a children’s product as the result of a recommendation from these sites.
•  More than half (55%) of these moms said they made their purchase because of a recommendation from a personal review blog.
• 40% of these moms made a purchase because of a  Facebook recommendation.

 The NPD Group fielded an online survey to members of NPD’s online panel and to members of the Child’s Play Communications online panel. The two different sources provided data to create both a holistic view of U.S. moms and their interaction with social media, as well as a deep-dive into the behaviors and preferences of social media moms. The complete survey is available for purchase from NPD.

 Clearly, moms nationwide are making purchasing decisions as a result of the information and advice other moms are providing through social media.

How about you? Have you made a purchase as a result of a social media recommendation? Was it from a blog? What did you buy and why?

According to The NPD Group, Spotlight on Kids: Understanding Cross-Category Purchasing: Data from July 2010—Back To School, 49 percent of all dollars spent on kids in July were specifically requested by the children.

That month,  apparel topped the list of products purchased for kids (20 percent), followed by footwear (13 percent), toys (8 percent), and video game consoles (7 percent). The survey also found that girls were more likely to request apparel and books and boys typically asked for sporting goods and video games.

Nearly two-thirds of dollars spent on kids came from their parents; grandparents contributed 19 percent.

Most will buy school supplies, followed by apparel, footwear and electronics. 79% will buy a product because of its value, 45% because “it’s required.” 82% will shop at an office supply store, 42% at mass merchant/discount stores, 29% at chain stores and 20% at department stores.

What are your back-to-school shopping plans this year?