Local Search Disappoints
Don't throw away the yellow pages phone book just yet...a new research report from Kelsey Group and Constat rates user satisfaction for various media sources which provide local shopping information. Compared tp 2005 local search neither gained nor lost with 39% of those surveyed rating them higly, still second after national newspapers - local rags came joint bottom:The Kelsey Group - About Us - Press Releases: "New Research by The Kelsey Group and ConStat Indicates 70% of U.S. Households Now Use the Internet When Shopping Locally for Products and Services
Findings also suggest the Internet is poised to surpass newspapers as a local shopping information resource. " "Local search is making strides but it's still not satisfying the majority of consumers, and neither are other sources of local information, whether they're on- or off-line...
Of all of the sources for local shopping information,
newspapers satisfied the most respondents (45 percent)
Internet search engines came in second, with 39 percent of respondents rating them highly
Online shopping sites (16 percent)
Internet Yellow Pages (15 percent) provided significantly lower satisfaction
Worst were local newspapers' Web sites (11 percent) and online message boards (5 percent).
Neal Polachek, SVP of research and consulting at the Kelsey Group states:
"that consumers' exposure to new sources for local information, such as local search from Yahoo! and Google; social sites like Judy's Book and Insider Pages; and directory-assistance replacements like 1-800-FREE411, might be frustrating consumers as much as helping them.
"Sometimes fewer options are easier," he said, noting that each category of player has strengths and weaknesses, but no one service meets all of consumers' needs. "I think we're going though that process in trying to understand where they're going to find the information they need, when they need it, and I don't think it's completely figured out yet."
That's part of the reason, Polachek reckons, that consumers haven't tossed out their print Yellow Pages books yet."
Related research;
The Kelsey Group TKR - Document Display: "Global Yellow Pages, Local Search and Classifieds Forecast, 2005-2010
Charles Laughlin, Neal Polachek , 2/24/2006 summary of the key findings from this White paper
The definition of local search has changed with this years forecast. Local search now comprises Internet Yellow Pages, local commercial search and wireless directories."
posted by Jen @ 7:43 AM
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