From Search to Store
Mar 02, 2016 
2 mins 
The power of a computer in your palm with high speed internet has changed consumer behavior.
Before you had to find a yellow page directory, map or telephone to find something nearby.
Now people just say what they are looking for with “near me.”
Words like “near me,” “closest,” and “nearby” are increasingly common across the billions of queries on Google every month. More and more, people are looking for things in their vicinity—be it a gym or a mall, a plumber, or a cup of coffee. Google search interest in “near me” has increased 34X since 20111 and nearly doubled since last year. The vast majority come from mobile—80% in Q4 2014.2
The smartphone is with consumers when they are ready to buy and that decision can be triggered almost anywhere. Once a consumer knows just what they are looking for they can go get it.
n fact, 50% of consumers who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a store within a day, and 18% of those searches lead to a purchase within a day. If they’re unsure where to eat, nearly half of people won’t search for a restaurant until within an hour of going. (That number jumps to almost 60% for millennials.3) And it doesn’t stop there. Once at their destination, consumers are searching to help make good choices. Another survey showed that 40% of millennials looked up information about their food while in a restaurant within the last month.4 Similarly, “coffee near me” is a popular search on mobile, but so is “macchiato calories.”2
Search ads can help drive users to your store as 10-18% of search clicks lead to a store visit.
The intent-rich moments when people seek location information are incredibly valuable. Based on the insight that 10-18% of clicks on search ads lead to a store visit, PetSmart is investing more in ads that drive customers to retail stores, like location extensions and directions. Businesses are also fine-tuning their location bid adjustments to show search and display ads to people who are within a certain distance from their stores.
Source: I-Want-to-Go Moments: From Search to Store – Think with Google
