Research carried out by US Mobile411 (voice search) provider V-ENABLE shows that holiday shopping directory assistance searches for retail businesses tend to be mostly for big-name retail multiples. Other popular retail searches were pharmacies, electronics stores and gaming businesses. Following retail chains, restaurants and gas stations were popular search categories. The research data offers a window into Americans shopping habits, particularly during the holiday shopping season.
Data was gathered between 23 November and 7 December from millions of searches conducted by customers of several V-ENABLE partners, including major national carriers such as Alltel and MetroPCS. The top five retail business searches in major metropolitan areas including Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco and Dallas were Wal-Mart, Target, Game Stop, Best Buy and Walgreens.
V-ENABLEs intuitive mobile voice search solution brings up over 14 million business and over 140 million residential listings, as well as detailed maps, nearby points of interest, driving directions and, in early 2008, GPS integration. This information can then be saved or sent to a friend, and at any time, the user can speak to a live operator for additional assistance. While 411 is an age-old business that hasnt seen much innovation for decades, new services like V-ENABLEs Mobile411 create a text and voice-activated visual 411 experience that can prove invaluable to harried holiday shoppers.
Theres an assumption that everyone knows where their local Wal-Mart is its interesting to see so many searches for major chain store locations from our customers, says Craig Hagopian, V-ENABLE Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Holiday shopping season can be hectic and stressful. Spontaneous mobile services like V-ENABLEs make it convenient and easy to find businesses both big and small as youre out checking off your gift lists.
The V-ENABLE mobile voice search interface software is a client-server solution, available on a variety of platforms including BREW, JAVA, Symbian, Windows Mobile, WAP, and xHTML. V-ENABLE technology have been deployed on ALLTEL, Leap Communications (Cricket Wireless), U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless.