Top Product Discovery Platforms (2024)
Growing a business requires getting sales, and one of the key steps to achieving that is getting your brand in front of the most eyes possible. To do that, you need to understand your target audience and their product discovery process.
With more and more people shopping online, it should come as no surprise that the top product discovery platforms are dominated by digital sources. Here’s a closer look.
Biggest product discovery tools: highlights
- Search engines are the most significant product discovery platform in 2024, with 32.9% of internet users relying on them, closely followed by TV ads at 32.8%.
- More than half of the top 10 product discovery platforms are digital, emphasizing the critical role of an online presence and targeted digital strategies in reaching consumers effectively.
Top 10 product discovery platforms in 2024: table
|
Source of brand discovery |
Percentage of internet users who say they use the following platform to discover new products |
|
1. Search engines |
32.9% |
|
2. TV ads |
32.8% |
|
3. Word-of-mouth |
29.9% |
|
4. Social media ads |
29.6% |
|
5. Brand websites |
25.7% |
|
6. TV shows and films |
24.6% |
|
7. In-store promos |
23.4% |
|
8. Social media comments |
23.3% |
|
9. Ads on websites |
23.2% |
|
10. Retail websites |
22.8% |
What are the top product discovery tools in 2024?
So, what are the most influential product discovery platforms?
Search engines rank at the top of this list, with close to one in three (32.9%) internet users worldwide saying they use them to discover new brands and/or products and services. With Google dominating the global search engine market share, it definitely is a platform that brands should focus their digital marketing efforts on.
Television ads rank closely behind search engines, with 32.8%. This list shows that personal interactions are an important part of consumers’ product discovery process. Word-of-mouth recommendations are the third-most popular platform, with 29.9% of internet users worldwide saying it’s how they find out about new brands and products.
Social media ads follow, with 29.6%. With an expected 5.42 billion people on social media in 2025 (and growing), it’s no wonder many consumers’ product discovery process involves social media.
After social media ads, the fifth-most popular product discovery tool is brand and product websites—used by just over one-quarter (25.7%) of consumers. Aside from running social media ads, having a solid online presence, especially on the most popular social networks, can be an extremely effective way to grow your brand’s reach.
This is followed by television shows and films, through which 24.6% of internet users discover new brands and products. In seventh place on the list ranking the most popular product discovery platforms are in-store promotions—23.4% of consumers say they discover new brands and products through them.
Social media comments and ads on websites can also help internet users discover new products—they are used by 23.3% and 23.2% of them, respectively. Retail websites round out the top 10 product discovery tools of 2024, with 22.8%.
Of these most popular channels internet users use in their product discovery process, more than half are fully digital, which highlights the importance of having an online marketing strategy for businesses.