This money-saving mindset provides retailers with an interesting opportunity to influence consumer purchase decisions. The number of online shoppers, who have purchased items that were not on their shopping list when offered a promotion has risen since 2004.

It appears that when consumers are in this frugal mindset, the offers become more appealing and they are more easily influenced. The study also shows that online shoppers have become more comfortable shopping online. Here are some of the study results:

* 42 percent who plan to reduce spending researched their purchase on three or more sites
* 33 percent decide in advance on a max price they are willing to pay for an item.
* 31 percent performed advance research and decided on the item they would purchase
* 16 percent knew where they would make their purchase and 13 percent knew when they would make their purchase
* 89 percent use Web sites to find their items
* 86 percent rely on search engines to find their items
* 78 percent use manufacturer sites to find their items
* 77 percent depend on ratings and reviews

Based on these statistics, the majority of consumers are not planning their purchases in advance, so retailers have an increased opportunity to influence purchase decisions. Read more here.