90% of Shoppers Use Search First

90% of consumers use search as their first port of call when shopping, online and offline

Google have published the results of a recent survey on how consumer behaviour has been affected by mobile technologies. The report, which contains data collected from 1,000 smartphone users several times a week, outlines the pivotal roll mobile (and mobile search) now plays in a customer’s shopping journey.

Search has been uncovered as the overall most used mobile function – meaning that this what we spend the most time doing on our mobile devices! In turn, the report found that over 90% of people use search engines during shopping and 87% of these use it before any other resource.

Other interesting results included:

  • 70% of offline purchasers used their mobile device to research the product/service beforehand
  • 92% of these people who searched on their phone made a related purchase
  • 68% of people used search to help with things they were planning to do in the future

Obviously, the report from Google goes a long way to support their core business and we shouldn’t forget that. However, the statistics speak volumes for the world of shopping as a whole – not just eCommerce. Understanding search engines, SEO practices and PPC advertising are integral to success both online and offline.

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