Nearly All Consumers (97%) Now Use Online Media to Shop Locally,
According to BIA/Kelsey and ConStat
New study reveals local consumers access an increasing number of
online media sources before buying; use of online coupons and appointment
scheduling on the rise
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).
“The increase in audience fragmentation presents challenges
for advertisers looking to connect with local consumers,” said
Peter Krasilovsky, vice president and program director, Marketplaces,
BIA/Kelsey. “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.”
Marketplaces
2010 (www.kelseygroup.com/marketplaces2010),
which takes place March 22-24 in San Diego, focuses on the fast-growing
opportunities in local vertical services, media and advertising. The
agenda features sessions that drill down into subjects directly related
to User View findings, such as:
Keynote by Andrew Mason, CEO, Groupon, a company that harnesses
the power of “smart mobs” to bid on featured services
in markets across the country.
Pre-Conference:
Critical Tools for Marketplace Success. During
a special two-part pre-conference, attendees
will learn about the latest developments
in small-business marketing solutions, which
now blend the best of digital and traditional
options. Part I will cover online scheduling,
promotions, live help acquisition/support, SMB video and classifieds.
Part II will focus on vertical search.
Local Retailers and the New
Marketplaces. Local retailers have a variety
of solutions to add to their Web sites, perform transactions, attract
new customers and ultimately make money. A panel of cutting-edge
retail enablers will discuss the new age of local retail.
Also keynoting Marketplaces 2010 are Jon Brod, executive vice president,
AOL Ventures; Jay Herratti, chief executive officer, Citysearch; Sam
Sebastian, director, Local & B2B Markets, Google; and Craig Smith,
CEO, ServiceMagic. Conference sponsors include Acxiom, AgendiZe, Amdocs,
Analog Analytics, ATG, AT&T Interactive, InSequent, Local.com,
LocalAdXchange, Local Matters, Localeze, Marchex, MatchCraft, MojoPages,
Moon Valley Software, Shooger, Text Link Ads, TurnHere, Universal Business
Listing and U.S. Local News Network. Groupon is the promotions partner
for Marketplaces. Association partners are Association of Directory
Publishers (ADP), Great Outdoor Network (GON), International Classified
Media Association (ICMA), Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and Yellow Pages Association (YPA).
Conference media partners are Advanced Interactive Media Group (AIM
Group), NetNewsCheck, SanDiego.com and SignOnSanDiego.com. For more
information, visit www.kelseygroup.com/marketplaces2010.
About User View
User View is BIA/Kelsey’s proprietary
user behavior tracking study, which focuses
on how U.S. consumers are evolving their use
of traditional and online information sources
to find and locate local serving businesses.
BIA/Kelsey and research partner ConStat have
conducted User View since 2003, surveying a
nationally weighted sample of consumers via
online survey. User View Wave VII was performed
online in February 2010 among a sample of 1,002
consumers.
About BIA/Kelsey
BIA/Kelsey advises companies in the local
media space through consulting and valuation
services, research, Continuous Advisory Services
and conferences. Since 1983 BIA/Kelsey has
been a resource to the media, mobile advertising,
telecommunications, Yellow Pages and electronic
directory markets, as well as to government
agencies, law firms and investment companies
looking to understand trends and revenue drivers.
BIA/Kelsey's annual conferences draw executives
from across industries seeking expert guidance
on how companies are finding innovative ways
to grow. Additional information is available
at www.bia.com and www.kelseygroup.com. The
company's blogs are located at http://blog.bia.com/bia/ and http://blog.kelseygroup.com/,
and it can be found on Twitter through http://twitter.com/BIAKelsey.
