For full, free access to NetNewsCheck, register today. It's fast, easy and free. If already registered, click here to log in.
Close Reminder
BIA/Kelsey User View survey

Survey: 97% Use Online For Local Shopping

NetNewsCheck, March 10, 2010 9:26 AM EST

CHANTILLY, Va. – Nearly all online consumers - 97 percent - now use online media when researching products or services in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey’s latest consumer tracking study.

“The Internet has indeed become an integral part of consumers’ local commercial activity,” said Steve Marshall, director of research, BIA/Kelsey. “The data suggest we’re at an inflection point where the balance of power in local shopping is shifting to online.”

Story continues after the ad

The User View Wave VII survey,  conducted with research partner ConStat, showed search engines with a 2-to-1 lead over online Yellow Pages:

  • 90 percent use search engines
  • 48 percent use Internet Yellow Pages
  • 24 percent use vertical sites
  • 42 percent use comparison shopping sites.

(image:kelsey-march2010-local-shopping-sources.jpg aspect:original align:right) The February survey of 1,002 consumers was conducted for home, office and mobile Internet users. It also showed:

  • Consumers used 7.9 different media sources when shopping for products or services in their local area, up from 6.5 sources in 2009 and 5.8 in 2008, revealing a noteworthy increase in audience fragmentation.
  • 58 percent of respondents report using an online coupon when shopping for products or services in their local area in the past year.
  • 19 percent of respondents report making an appointment online in the past six months for a service other than a restaurant reservation (e.g., business appointment, health-care appointment, auto service or personal service such as a beauty shop).

“The increase in audience fragmentation presents challenges for advertisers looking to connect with local consumers,” said Peter Krasilovsky, vice president. “These challenges may be outweighed by the targeting opportunities available with tools like coupon promotions and appointment scheduling, the latter being among the best lead sources possible, since you know where people are actually going.”

Comments (2) -

Chris Palmer posted 180 days, 4238 hours, 3 minutes ago
|
There is no way this is an accurate percentage of the overall shopping public. Most quality research shows that 1/4 of people do not even go online on a regular basis let alone use the Internet for shopping or research purposes. While I am a huge advocate of using the Internet for research and ecommerce, I don't know how any credible research company can validate the 97% claim.
NetNewsCheck Staff posted 179 days, 4218 hours, 11 minutes ago
|
Excellent point. We've adjusted the story to reflect that the survey was conducted online, so it's 97% of ONLINE consumers who use the Internet to research local purchases.

Today's Top Stories

Classifieds

The Market

Symbol Last Change (%)
Nasdaq 2227.69 +27.68 (+1.26%)
NYSE 7039.99 +73.74 (+1.06%)
S&P 500 1101.66 +11.56 (+1.06%)
Updated 09/03 3:44p ET Quotes delayed at least 20 mins.
Source: Financial Content
Opinions
Features
Ideas
  • Groupon: Good and Bad for Newspaper Ads

    Rick Edmonds: "The deal-of-the-day boom will drain dollars from newspaper advertising (as well as from direct mail and yellow pages), but the hot new category need not be a dead loss for newspapers." (PoynterOnline)

  • Conquering Tech Fear in J-School

    Jen Lee Reeves is surprised by the number of students entering journalism school who state they "don't know anything about computers." (MediaShift)

  • Twitter's Problem: It's Not Going Mainstrem

    Henry Blodget: "The last few months have begun to confirm a conviction we've long held about Twitter--that, in its current form, it's not likely to become a huge mass-market phenomenon." (Business Insider)

  • Hazards Of Hyperlocal: How Much Demand?

    Barb Palser: "However, as more companies crowd into the hyperlocal space, the question arises: Exactly how much consumer demand exists for neighborhood news?" (American Journalism Review)

  • Will Consumers Really Use Connected TVs?

    James McQuivey of Forrester Research explains why  connected TVs are "going to sell like proverbial hotcakes," why this generation of TVs may not "create the digital home I envision," and why "Google TV is not the only or even the best answer, though it’s a bigger deal than you think." (PaidContent)

  • How To Tell A Journalist From A Blogger

    “It doesn’t really matter what medium you use. You can be a print journalist, a radio journalist, a television journalist, an online journalist … A journalist is not distinguished by the medium of his or her publication.” Here are 10 distinguishing characteristics (Jodie O'Dell)

  • Thoughts On The Future Of Newspapers

    Henry Blodget: “After five disastrous years, newspaper bosses are finally acknowledging that the industry is going through a rough time, but they still aren’t being fully forthright with their employees about the employees’ long-term employment prospects.” (Business Insider)

  • Don't Force Radio Talent To Do Social Media

    Mark Ramsey: “It is important for your station brand to be part of the listener conversation, no doubt. So somebody needs to dive in. Somebody needs to blog. Somebody needs to tweet. Somebody needs to have online dialogues with your fans. … But it doesn’t need to be the talent.” (Hear 2.0)

  • View More Opinion & Commentary