GCI New Gannett Co Inc

Despite evidence that online holiday shopping continues to increase, a recent survey indicates that holiday shoppers aren’t ready to give up in-store shopping just yet. ReachLocal, a leader in enabling online marketing for local businesses and a part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, polled 250 consumers to uncover their holiday shopping habits.

The results indicate that consumers are not completely giving up on in-store shopping during the holidays, with 44% of respondents indicating a preference for shopping in both physical stores and online, and 28% preferring shopping in stores only. This means that online and offline marketing efforts need to be more interconnected than ever. This is true not only for retail, but also for services companies, restaurants, or any type of business with a local presence.

The poll results indicate that today’s holiday shoppers prefer to do their shopping both in-store and online. This was somewhat surprising given the rise in online shopping over the last decade. Interestingly, tech-savvy millennials polled indicated they prefer to shop at physical stores over online. Many respondents cited the social aspects and overall experience of shopping with friends and family playing into their desire to shop in physical stores.

In addition, half of those surveyed plan to use search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo!, followed by online ratings, and consumer reviews to research their holiday purchases, a result that was consistent across consumer age brackets. This finding underscores the importance of search engine advertising, SEO and local listings for businesses who want to reach shoppers online this holiday season.

It’s interesting to note that people conduct much of their research online, but don't necessarily buy only online. They may use the Internet to research products and pricing, look up addresses and store hours, or connect directly to a business’ website, and the result is still often a local, in-store purchase. Taking these results together, these trends point to the need for a robust and integrated online and offline marketing strategy leveraging tools like search advertising, SEO, and local directory listings that can help drive online searches to offline conversions.

An infographic of the study findings can be found here: https://www.reachlocal.com/us/en/infographic/surprising-holiday-shopping-trends-you-need-know

About ReachLocalReachLocal, a USA TODAY NETWORK company and a part of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), helps local businesses grow and better operate their business with award-winning lead generation and conversion technology and expert service. ReachLocal is headquartered in Woodland Hills, Calif., and operates in four regions: Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. For more information, visit www.reachlocal.com.

Media Contact:Aimee L. QuemuelCodey Communicationspress@reachlocal.com1-844-707-8955