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It's the great American pastime.
No, I'm not talking about baseball. Or stuffing your face with apple pie. Or arguing about politics with your family over Thanksgiving dinner. No, I'm talking about the great American pastime of buying stuff.
Unlike those other pastimes, however, which have remained relatively unchanged over the years, the way we buy has evolved considerably. For example ...
In 1914, you might've been tempted to buy a (non-branded) pastry after noticing a delicious smell emanating from the local bakery.
In 2014, you might be tempted to buy a Pop-Tart after seeing a commercial for Pop-Tarts on TV, or after reading an article about Pop-Tarts on The Wall Street Journalwebsite, or after hearing about (or attending) a Pop-Tarts-branded summer concert series.
As a sales professional, understanding where prospective customers get their information before making a purchase decision (and what factors help influence those decisions) is crucial. To help shed some light on how purchase decision-making has changed over the past century, we teamed up with our friends at Column Five to create the infographic below.