studies

As more and more shoppers use their smartphones to research and make purchases, we will see retailers focus on optimizing for the mobile shopping experience. This includes making sure that their business listings come up high and prominently for users. In 2011, Mediative ran an eye-tracking study on user behavior on the mobile device using the free Google Places app on the iphone. Below are some key takeaways from the study:

• Top three positions and social signals like reviews on Google Places perform well on mobile phones. Listings that had at least 3+ star reviews took 41 out of 47 clicks.
• The number of reviews matter too. 29 of the 47 clicks went to listings that had at least four reviews.
• Eye-tracking reveals that while images on the iPhone listings are very small, users would pause on a listing because of the social proof offered by positive reviews, and then look at the image before making a decision to click to see if they are trustworthy. As a result, it's important for businesses to give some special consideration to mobile imagery.

For the first time ever the majority of purchasers does online research before purchasing. The online purchase share shows limited growth for most products, however online research grows strongly and consistently across all countries and products.

Key Findings

• Online purchase mainly grows in travel and media, however online research grows strongly and consistently across all countries and products.
• Online research grows equally strong amongst online and offline purchasers and is consistent amongst countries and products as well.
• Products of higher value show both more online research and more online purchase than lower value products.

The Global Business Map provides a country profile for 48 countries on 6 different continents. The country profiles give an overview of fundamental country facts and specific market insights. We have collected those metrics most relevant for uncovering market potential and to help you recognise business opportunities specific to your company. This guide also provides an introduction to a range of products and tools available to you at Google, which are each explained briefly to help you get acquainted with the different ways in which you can reach out and connect with your target markets.

Each country page contains the following data:

• Basic Facts: official country name, capital, area, top-level domain, official or most spoken language, local currency, age distribution and GDP in terms of purchasing power parity and rank. GDP in each country has been expressed in US Dollars.
• Demographics: Population (total, growth and country rank), a breakdown of the age distribution according to gender and age group, median age.
• Internet statistics: The Internet penetration of the population, the total number of broadband and fixed Internet subscriptions, as found by the International Telecommunications Union.
• Google Contact: The email address that you can use to get in touch with our local representatives. They will be happy to give you more insight into the statistics you can find in the pages here and connect your ideas with the appropriate Google products.