Using search data from 2012, today’s WhitePages report shows just how depressing the holiday season can be. According to the site, last year witnessed a 265 percent increase in searches for dating services, and more than double the average number of searches for pet stores during the days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.
“The searches reveal that the need for companionship increases during the holidays,” said WhitePages general manager Bret Moore.
As if those stats aren’t sad enough, WhitePages also claims searches for attorneys spike at the end of the year as well.
Fortunately, there’s always alcohol. WhitePages says it saw a 614 percent increase in searches for liquor stores on the days before Thanksgiving, along with a 303 percent climb around Christmas, and a 398 percent increase on New Year’s Eve.
The WhitePages report also confirmed Christmas card procrastination was a common holiday theme, with searches for local post offices skyrocketing by more than 210 percent during the three days preceding Christmas. The number of searches for addresses on WhitePages.com and the site’s mobile app peaked the week before Christmas, climbing 217 percent on December 18.
WhitePages said searches for Nordstrom, Macy’s, Best Buy and Target more than doubled two days before Christmas. Post-Christmas searches on the site showed searches for Chinese restaurants climbed 225 percent on December 28 compared to the week before Christmas. Searches for fitness gyms began rising around the New Year, and continued to climb up until January 10.
WhitePages says its report is based on search numbers from hundreds of millions of searches by more than 50 million monthly users searching on both WhitePages.com and its mobile apps during the 2012 holiday season.
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