Articles

Some very interesting and revealing stats that you must
know.
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Nearly All Consumers (97%) Now Use Online Media to Shop
Locally, According to BIA/Kelsey and ConStat

CHANTILLY, Va. (March 10, 2010) – Nearly all consumers (97
percent) now use online media when researching products or
services in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey’s
(www.bia.com and www.kelseygroup.com) User View Wave VII, an
ongoing consumer tracking study conducted with research
partner ConStat.

Among consumers surveyed, 90 percent use search engines, 48
percent use Internet Yellow Pages, 24 percent use vertical
sites, and 42 percent use comparison shopping sites.

“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.”

According to the study, on average, consumers are using 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.

Additional findings include:

• 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).

Here’s a link to the article

Nearly All Consumers (97%) Now Use Online Media to Shop Locally