Purchase Journey of New Parents

• 71% of parents are influenced by online resources when it comes to their purchase journey.
• Moms and dads (97% and 93%) agree that social media is "extremely helpful" when it comes to seeking advice and guidance.
• Expecting and new parents surveyed found that this cohort is "more likely to join online communities and visit Facebook on a daily basis" during the early stages of parenthood. The millennial segment of this cohort is three-times more likely to be a part of a Facebook group than non-parent millennials.
• New parents are using online forums to get immediate answers to important questions at any time of the day, to connect with others, to see advice, and to get recommendations about products and services.
•  Buy-and-sell online groups are particularly popular among new parents due to the fact that new parents become more price conscious.

First-Time Parents Buying a Home

• Parents Magazine has a whole section of content on their website dedicated to buying a house. The Parents Magazine website receives over 8 million visitors per month.
• Google shows that there are over 269 million web results for "buying a house with a new baby". The highest ranking results are from Parents Magazine, The Week, Dream Home Financing, the WeddingBee forum, Mortgages.com, Moving.com, TheNest, ScaryMommy, and Reddit. Collectively, this data helps to show that new parents are doing research online when it comes to buying a home and that they are accessing web forums, parenting blogs, parenting magazines, and moving/finance blogs in an effort to seek out this information.
• The Google results noted above also show that the top ranking results are covering topics such as home buying rules for parents, tips for buying a home with a baby on the way, a lot of discussions of whether its best to buy a home before having a baby or after, how to budget money while paying for both a new home and a baby, and comparing the experience of buying a home vs. having a baby.

First-Time Parents Buying a Car

• Google shows that there are over 1 billion web results for "buying a car with a new baby". The highest ranking results are from AutoTrader, PolicyGenius, AutoBytel, Cartelligent, Christian Post, Cars.com, A Girls Guide to Cars, and Parents.com. Collectively, this data helps to show that new parents are doing research online when it comes to buying a car and that they are primarily accessing automotive blogs and forums, but also parenting blogs and forums.
• The Google results noted above also show that the top ranking results are covering topics such car buying guides for new parents, baby-friendly car features, discussions on whether it's best to buy a car before or after a baby is born, things parents should consider before buying a car, and car buying tips for families.

Results of Early Findings

• We were unable to locate any surveys or reports which provide direct answers/evidence/data that discuss the purchase journey of first-time parents specifically when it comes to buying a home or a car. However, we were able to gather indirect insights that help shine on a light on this topic by analyzing Google search results (based on the fact that the highest positions in Google search results get the highest amount of traffic).
• There is a much greater wealth of information available when comes to analyzing the purchase journey of first-time parents in general.
• Additionally, because our research has shown that the majority of new parents are currently millennials, with millennial moms making up 82% of new births as of 2016, a greater wealth of information may be obtained by researching the purchase journeys of millennials when it comes to buying homes and cars.