The ability to research products online is very important to retail shoppers, according to a new study conducted for WebCollage. The study indicates that retailers that do not provide their customers with information for buying decisions risk losing customers' current and repeat purchases.

For retailers, the price of having poor online content can be steep. A full 91 percent of online shoppers said they felt it was important or very important for retailers to provide complete product information. Shoppers noted several disadvantages to researching at retailers' websites.

Of those polled, 44 percent said they felt retail websites did not have complete information on manufacturers' products. A third were concerned that retailer product content was out of date.

Shoppers who are not able to find the information they need to make a purchase will often go elsewhere. In the search for more complete, up to date content, 37 percent said they would visit a competitor's website to find the information they needed. Recognizing manufacturers as the best authority on their products, 55 percent said they would go to a manufacturer's website to find information. For retailers with poor product content, the cost of losing these customers goes far beyond the loss of one sale. Competitors that equip customers with the information they need inspire loyalty.

A whopping 82 percent reported they were more likely to return to retail websites that provided complete product information. In addition, 71 percent said that they would be more likely to purchase products in the physical store of the retailer whose website they had used to perform product research.