Internet Surpasses Yellow Pages for Consumer Info

When shopping for local products and services, consumers are letting their fingers do the walking... but it's to click a mouse, not to flip through the Yellow Pages.

A new Kelsey Group survey shows that in 2005, more US adults are using the Internet to research shopping than they are the Yellow Pages, and just as many are using the Net as are local newspapers. This represents a 10% increase in Internet usage for local shopping from 2o03.

Use of the Yellow Pages sharply declined in homes with Internet access, but alarmingly, remained flat in homes without Internet access... suggesting a broader cultural shift away from dependence on the Yellow Pages as a shopping resource.

Clearly this will have a serious impact on how businesses advertise -- and may move the Yellow Pages into the realm of vanishing Americana.

Source: eMarketer