From Search to Store

Consumers are armed with high-powered computers in their pockets allowing them to easily find info at their fingertips. Searches made with local intent are growing quickly. For local business being there is critical to success.

People turn to their phone in the split seconds they have to find something they need. These micro-moments are huge opportunities on mobile devices.

“Near me” searches are on the rise

Finding a product or service nearby used to require a combination of the Yellow Pages, a paper map, and a telephone—not the most convenient solution. Thanks to the powerful devices in our pockets, we can quickly and easily find things around us. And we are, in massive numbers.

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

When this happens consumers are looking to make a choice.

In 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

From Search to Store

People are looking for things that are specific to their location. While destinations like restaurants, movies and bars are commonly searched so are professional services like physicians. These moments happen all the time given all this information is now at customers fingertips.

Get mobile and local friendly and be there when it matters most.

Source: I-Want-to-Go Moments: From Search to Store – Think with Google