Phone books are needed
The days of printed phone books are far from over, as the figures from Mach Consumer show.
On behalf of Swisscom Directories, questions on the use of telephone directories were asked for the first time in Wemf's Mach Consumer 2009-2. The results show that the time of printed telephone directories is far from over. For example, the classic telephone directory has the widest user base in Switzerland at 82.4 percent, while the local telephone directory Local (only in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland) has 72.1 percent. The Yellow Pages have to make do with 57.8 percent. The Internet portal Local.ch has the widest user base at 60.4 percent. Usage in detail is shown in the chart "Usage of telephone directories Directories".
Intensive use of local
Local is available both as a printed, handy directory and as an online platform. The results show that intensive users (several times a month) use both offerings to roughly the same extent. The less frequently such a service is used, the more often the printed volume comes into play. Not unexpectedly, the proportion of those who never access the online platform is significantly higher at 35.2 percent than for the printed edition, which is never used by only 21.6 percent. The classic telephone directory, which will soon only be delivered to those households that request it, is never used by only 16.4 percent. By contrast, the usage figures for the printed version of the Yellow Pages are much worse. Only just over 23 percent need them at least every two to three months. And almost 40 percent never use them.
Incidentally, the most sought-after services are catering/accommodation and medical services, which account for over 40 percent (see chart "Services sought"). Financial and legal advice, on the other hand, is rarely sought via a telephone directory - not entirely unexpectedly.
Ueli Custer
