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Mobile Local Search Dampened by Poor UK Weather
Rain-shy mobile phone users played it safe in a wet early summer, making fewer searches for places of interest to spend the day out in the UK, according to m-spatial’s Q2 Mobile Local Search Index 2007.
Compared with the year-ago quarter, there were decreases in searches for history and culture (down 16%), scenic places (down 37%) and sports grounds and stadiums (down 32%); however, searches for travel agents - as people sought warmer climes - increased 137%, m-spatial reported.
The top 5 searched-for brands were Tesco’s, Odeon, Cineworld, Asda and Vue.
A key trend to be highlighted by the index is the amount of searches made for cinemas, with Odeon, Cineworld and Vue all now established in the top 10 search result brands, when 12 months ago none was listed.
The top five most searched-for categories remain unchanged, yet the poor British weather has led to more people’s searching for home-related products, compared with both last year and the previous quarter, according to m-spatial.
The top 5 searched-for categories were cinema, fast food, drinking, taxi and supermarkets.
“The results for Q2 show how unpredictable weather affects what people are looking for, and the poor start to the summer resulted in a substantial increase in people looking for foreign holidays - and a significant drop in people looking to spend days out in the UK,” said Andy Walker, CEO of m-spatial.
The Mobile Local Search Index highlights consumer trends, and when compared with results from the year-earlier period shows movements in brand popularity over the year.
In the Q2 Mobile Local Search Index 2006, for example, McDonalds was the third most popular search result brand, behind Pizza Hut and Tesco’s, yet the backlash against unhealthy eating over the last 12 months has in the fast-food chain’s dropping out of the top 10, with 61% fewer searches for the brand, m-spatial said.
About the index: The m-spatial Mobile Local Search Index first started in April 2006 and provides quarterly results on what mobile users are searching for.
