IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Local Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM), a leading online local media company, today unveiled results from its highly anticipated mobile local consumer research study.

The latest installment of the annual study, commissioned by Local Corporation and conducted by the e-tailing group, explores current mobile local shopper usage trends, shopping strategies, and shopper dependence on key information resources and customer conveniences accessed through various channels.

The study looks at the evolving role of the smartphone on the path to a local purchase, when consumers are ultimately looking to buy a product at a nearby retail store. It provides insights into actionable tactics for retail marketers to better engage with connected consumers and drive sales along the path-to-purchase within a geo-local context.

The research concludes that mobile consumers are multi-dimensional in how and when they incorporate smartphones into local shopping activities. Smartphone use for local shopping includes an array of activities associated with pre-purchase research: accessing product information, checking competitive prices, and finding digital coupons for redemption.

"Mobile usage continues to soar and has dramatically changed the local shopping landscape, with 76 percent of consumers accessing store information via their smartphones when researching local stores they want to visit,” said Michael Sawtell, president and COO, Local Corporation.

“Today’s savvy shoppers are using their smartphones to research pricing and product information to make informed shopping decisions, with the majority also checking product availability, which is directly impacting their purchase decisions,” added Sawtell. “As a result, retailers need to take notice and adjust their engagement strategies to fit the evolving needs of the connected consumer.”

The company will showcase the research findings and its patented Krillion® local shopping platform, as a speaker, exhibitor (booth #326) and sponsor at this week’s Shop.org Annual Summit, Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, in Chicago, Ill. Sherry Thomas-Zon, Local Corporation’s vice president of local shopping, will present the findings at Shop.org in a session titled “Mobile Local Shopper Insights: Driving Engagement Along the Mobile Path-to-Purchase” at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

The next generation Krillion local shopping platform provides dynamic location-based product search data for connected, local consumers nationwide via mobile and desktop. The Krillion local shopping data index, one of the largest and most comprehensive in the industry, now includes over 75,000 retail stores, covering over 3,000 shopping categories and over 23,000 leading consumer brands, representing millions of localized products.

The Krillion platform aggregates national retail shopping content, including retail locations, brands, product categories, product images and inventory availability data. The company offers aggregated data through a range of APIs tailored for both online and mobile channels and devices. Retailers and brand marketers included in the Krillion data index can reach more local consumers and drive shopper engagement and sales, both online and in-store.

A white paper titled “Mobile Momentum: Spotlight on the Mobile Local Shopper” that explores the study’s findings and what it means for retail and brand marketers, is available for download at: http://krillion.com/mobilelocalresearch. The following is a preview of the study’s key findings:

RESEARCH KEY FINDINGS

Year-over-year interest and use of smartphones for shopping accelerates at an astounding rate:

• Product shopping research via smartphone grew from 34 percent in 2012 to 73 percent in 2013.

Smartphone users do their homework often in advance of local store visits:

• Overall, 67 percent of smartphone shoppers researched store-based needs more over the past year and one-in-three researched significantly more.
• One-in-two shoppers research at least 50 percent of the time via smartphone when intending to make a local purchase.
• 60 percent of shoppers often think of using their smartphones when researching local purchases.
• 72 percent research online a lot, but often follow-up with a store visit.
• 67 percent check to see if the store has inventory in a particular product of interest before shopping trips.
• 59 percent often buy online and pick up in store to avoid online shipping charges.

Smartphones are multi-purpose shopping utilities, giving connected consumers access to essential information that speeds purchase decision-making:

• 76 percent use their smartphone to access information about a local store they want to visit.
• 68 percent think their smartphone is great for accessing coupons that they typically redeem at local retail stores.
• 67 percent use their smartphone to download apps that allow them to browse their favorite retailers.
• 65 percent like the ability to browse and preview their emails from retailers and sometimes make a purchase directly on their smartphone.

Activities shoppers have done at least seven times in the last three months have almost doubled in most instances from a year ago and include:

• Checked for sales and specials (59 percent)
• Browsed an online store for product of interest (58 percent)
• Looked for competitive pricing at Amazon (58 percent)
• Looked up store information (55 percent)
• Checked ratings and reviews for a product of interest (51 percent)

Top time-savers that make for more efficient shopping experiences:

• Total cost of product (65 percent)
• Customer reviews (64 percent)
• Coupon or promotional code for the product (61 percent)
• Comprehensive product information (59 percent)
• Price-matching guarantees (57 percent)
• Store location information (52 percent)

Methodology and Demographics

The online survey of 1,005 consumers was completed in August 2013 and was evenly split across gender lines. All respondents were pre-qualified for smartphone ownership and had shopped at least several times per month online spending at least $250 annually. From a demographic standpoint, a cross-section of consumers by age that aligned with the Internet population was utilized where 45 percent earned $75,000 or more and 54 percent had at least a college education while 54 percent had children in the household.

The e-tailing group is a Chicago-based consultancy that helps retailers deliver the right customer experience across all channels, while assisting technology companies create and execute go-to-market strategies that simultaneously educate the retail community.

About Local Corporation

Local Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM) is a leading online local media company that connects brick-and-mortar businesses with over a million online and mobile consumers each day using a variety of innovative digital marketing products. To advertise, or for more information, visit: http://localcorporation.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words or expressions such as "anticipate," "plan," "will," "intend," "believe" or "expect'" or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Key risks are described in the filings we make with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason. Unless otherwise stated, all site traffic and usage statistics are from third-party service providers engaged by the company. Traffic and our monetization of that traffic combine to determine our revenues for any given period. Our traffic volume alone for a period should not be viewed as demonstrative of our financial results for such period.