Local Searches Dominate Smartphone Shopping Market

Thursday, December 20, 2018 - 14:54 by Sarah Collinson

A study from Uberall has found that three out of four British consumers have taken advantage of their mobile device in order to search for products and services that are found in their local area.

Internet Retailing reports that the location-based search capabilities offered by modern smartphone platforms make it easier to find products that can be ordered via safe shopping online and then picked up from a nearby outlet rather than delivered at a future date.

Interestingly, the survey found that the UK lags a little behind the US when it comes to geographically specific searches, with 83 per cent of consumers on the other side of the Atlantic harnessing this as a means of pinpointing bargains.

Report spokesperson Daniel Mathew said that because more and more Brits were performing local searches from their handsets, it made sense for retailers to respond to this with relevant offers and pages which tie in with bricks-and-mortar outlets.

It is not just standard retail stores which attract a lot of attention through location-based search: restaurants and takeaways are also popular options to look up when a consumer is out and about.

Mathew explained that the festive shopping season was especially susceptible to trends determined by local searches, with the ‘near me’ search term rising in usage as people scrabble to find last-minute gifts to give their loved ones.

Although many e-commerce retailers offer next-day or even same-day delivery in certain parts of the country, there are final order dates to take into account, and so being able to grab something from a high street or out-of-town outlet at this time of year makes a lot of sense. For multichannel retailers, this creates a lot of opportunity for cross-promotion of online and in-store experiences at various times of the year.