Wave V of The Kelsey Group’s annual consumer tracking survey, User View, was just completed in March. The survey asks online consumers about 30 questions, covering topics such as information sources used for local shopping, level of Internet usage and participation in “user-generated content.”  The findings from this survey of about 1,000 online consumers, show some clear developments:  

• Continued migration to various online media as information sources for local shopping.    

• In rating online information sources for local shopping, consumers give the highest value to transaction-related information (such as price and product availability).    

• 30 percent of consumers say they use the Internet “considerably more” than a year ago, and another 32 percent “somewhat more.”    

• In general, search engines generated a surprisingly strong showing as a tool for local shopping.    

• 30 percent of consumers have submitted some form of user-generated content within the past six months – ranging form a numeric rating all the way up to uploading a self-produced video to YouTube.   

• Over half (56 percent) of consumers have watched online (or downloaded) a video, movie or TV program within the past month.