xAd and Telmetrics today continue their rapid fire series of Path-to-Purchase studies by kicking off the research’s second year.  After doing a study last year and following up with subsequent category drill downs, they launched a UK version. Those past releases can be seen in our coverage.

—Moving Further Down the Path to Purchase
—Telmetrics/xAd Mobile Local Data, Take 3: Restaurants
—Telmetrics and xAd Release Second Path to Purchase Study
—Mobile Local Data Galore: A Conversation with Telmetrics

Like previous installations, the latest U.S. study measures consumer behavior for finding, researching and purchasing items in an increasingly multi-screen world.  Today’s release has the following highlights:

— Of consumers searching for local products and services, 45 percent tap mobile devices first, while 49 percent use PC/Online as their primary media resource.

— Although 54 percent of all mobile users (including smartphone and tablet) indicated usage of additional media sources to aid in their purchase decision, 46 percent exclusively used mobile as their default/primary research tool.

— 50 percent of all mobile users rely on their device at the beginning of the research process with 1 out of 3 users indicating they used their device throughout their entire purchasing process.

— Nearly 1 out of 3 smartphone users and 1 out of 4 tablet users reference their device specifically for contact information such as a phone number, address or map and driving directions.

— The majority of consumers (60 percent) expected businesses to be within walking or local driving distance from their current location.

— 60 percent of smartphone users and 53 percent of tablet users have completed purchases related to their mobile activity.

— 53 percent of mobile users are making their purchases offline or in-store. This is even more prevalent on smartphones with 74 percent completing their transactions offline.

— Although cross category device utilization in the purchase process was very similar, immediacy of need was extremely varied depending on the category

— Gas & Convenience and Banking & Finance related needs seemed to be more immediate –happening immediately or within a day

— Retail & Insurance needs were less urgent with one-third of needs happening within the month or longer

— For smartphones, most searchers go directly to the branded app or website (57 percent), however, on tablets the discovery methods vary by category

— Nearly 60 percent of mobile users (including nearly 80 percent of tablet users) indicated using their device at home, signaling that mobile usage is starting to cannibalize desktop/PC usage

The study clearly reaches across different local business categories, and we expect drill downs to be released soon. Meanwhile, check out the associated infograph which provides some color.