SEATTLE, WA — (Marketwired) — 12/05/13 — Just in time for the holidays, , the leading provider of contact information for people and businesses in the U.S., today released data showcasing Americans- habits during the busy holiday season. Based on hundreds of millions of searches from over 50 million monthly WhitePages users during the 2012 holidays, the findings show that the need for companionship may weigh heavy on the hearts of many Americans during the holiday season, with searches for both dating services and pets showing dramatic spikes that rival the surge in address searches for the sending of cards and packages each holiday season.
“By looking at searches on WhitePages Websites as well as our mobile apps with 50 million combined downloads, we-re able to get a peek into the minds of Americans heading into the holidays,” said Bret Moore, General Manager, WhitePages. “The searches reveal that the need for companionship increases during the holidays, and that procrastination, celebration and resolution ring true as common themes.”
With no one to kiss under the mistletoe or when the clock strikes midnight, the holidays can make single guys and gals everywhere long for companionship. Searches for dating services see an increase of 256% leading up to the holidays. In addition, many people look to friends of the furry variety during the holidays with searches for pet stores more than doubling in the weeks between Thanksgiving and December 31st.
While New Year-s Eve is thought of as the most raucous of the holidays, people may be just as inclined to stock up on beer, wine and spirits in preparation for the big family Thanksgiving meal. Searches for liquor stores spike more than 614% in the days before Thanksgiving, compared with 303% at Christmas and 398% on New Year-s Eve.
Despite the myth that Chinese restaurants see heavy traffic over Christmas, searches for Chinese food are actually the highest between Christmas and New Year-s, when people are tired of cooking and can-t stomach another cheese plate. Searches for Chinese restaurants are highest on December 28th, at over 225% more than the week before Christmas.
People wait a lot later than you-d think to get to the Post Office. While searches for local post offices increase steadily in the weeks leading up to Christmas, they spike, by more than 210%, in the three days immediately before the holiday.
WhitePages- Website and mobile apps also see an increase in consumers looking up addresses for friends and family during the final weeks of December, peaking with a 217% increase on Dec. 18th. The WhitePages directory is the definitive resource for consumers to confirm mailing addresses on the Web and on the go.
Those looking to avoid a stampede should steer clear of the mall as well. Queries for Nordstrom, Macy-s, Best Buy and Target all more than doubled two days before Christmas.
Every family has their own drama, which tends to amplify during the togetherness of the holidays, and it may be enough to make some people sue-happy. Whether it-s contesting the family will, suing a relative or filing for divorce, searches for attorneys spike at the end of year, perhaps in an effort to finalize legal actions before the New Year.
It-s no surprise that searches for gyms go up around the New Year but it appears people stretch their gluttony past the first day on the new calendar. Searches for gym memberships actually peak on January 10th, when they-re more than three times as high as they were two weeks prior. By the end of January, gym searches normalize, hinting that Americans moved on from their resolutions.
WhitePages is the leading provider of contact information for people and businesses in the U.S. With over 50 million unique monthly users and powering over 2 billion searches per year across sites that include WhitePages.com and 411.com, WhitePages offers consumers one-click access to more than 200 million adults and also provides them with the ability to edit and control their own listings. The company-s suite of mobile products includes a top-50 mobile website and popular Android and iPhone apps with over 15 million active monthly mobile users.
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