More than 180,000 business customers of SEAT Pagine Gialle invest in online directories, but only one third has a well-structured website

Turin, November 3rd, 2009 – Italian companies show a growing propensity to use the Internet to approach their reference target. Out of the 500,000 Small and Medium Enterprises among the customers of SEAT Pagine Gialle, over 180,000 have chosen the online advertising platforms provided by the Company, and as many as 18,000 of these, i.e. 10%, only invest on the Internet. This trend highlights the key role of SEAT Pagine Gialle as enabler of innovative solutions for Italian SMEs, a key feature to support made-in-Italy competitiveness during the present economic crisis. The attendance of SEAT Pagine Gialle at  IAB Forum 2009 goes along the same direction.

While more and more companies have realized the importance of the Internet to establish an effective communication with their customers, only one-third of the 180,000 business customers of SEAT Pagine Gialle that use online directories have a well-structured website. Looking at the industries with the highest rate of companies owning an advanced website, Hotel Accommodation ranks first (65.80%), followed by Office and company supplies (59.43%), Chemicals (52.77%), Transports (52.75%), Mechanics (52.23%), Computers/Internet (50.73%), and Furnishing (49.91%).

Interestingly, SEAT Pagine Gialle’s Small and Medium Enterprise customers investing on the Internet show a regional concentration. Regions where the incidence of companies owning a structured website is highest include, by order of importance, Latium (48.98%), Puglia (47.60%), Lombardy (47.27%), Campania (47.14%), Sardinia (45.33%), Piedmont (45.15%), and Tuscany (44.83%). Therefore the trend towards investing on the Web does not seem to be tied to the geographic breakdown between North, Centre and South, but rather to the propensity towards innovation of individual regions distributed throughout the country.

“At SEAT Pagine Gialle, we believe in the importance of investing in innovation on a continuous basis, as shown by our attendance at IAB Forum 2009. We always devote significant time and effort to research aimed at providing technologically advanced solutions to Italian companies, allowing them communicate with their customers. Internet and new technologies for marketing allow SMEs to remain competitive and establish a direct interaction with consumers. The upward trend of online investments by our customers goes along this line,” said Alberto Cappellini, Chief Executive Officer, SEAT Pagine Gialle.

SEAT PAGINE GIALLE
Il Gruppo SEAT Pagine Gialle è uno dei principali operatori a livello mondiale nel settore della pubblicità direttiva multimediale con un'offerta "carta-telefono-internet" e con strumenti complementari di comunicazione come il one-to-one marketing.
Da oltre 80 anni SEAT Pagine Gialle propone servizi di informazione, strumenti di reperibilità e di comunicazione. È una storia di successo costruita su un marchio conosciuto da tutti gli italiani, su una rete commerciale di oltre 2.000 persone, su una tecnologia in costante evoluzione, su un database di 15 milioni di famiglie e 3,8 milioni di operatori economici (dati 2008), e su una vasta gamma prodotti che garantisce la disponibilità di un vero "sistema" integrato di comunicazione a circa 600mila Clienti italiani: 59 milioni di volumi distribuiti nelle case e negli uffici (dati 2008), circa 35 milioni di chiamate directory assistance (dati 2008) e oltre 330 milioni di visite sulle directories internet (dati 2008) mettono in contatto persone e aziende, esigenze e soluzioni e favoriscono gli scambi economici.

SEAT Pagine Gialle

Seat Pagine Gialle Communications
Comunicazione.stampa@seat.it
Tel. +39.011.435.3030
fax +39.011.435.3040

Burson-Marsteller

Silvia Vergani – Simona Mercandalli
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simona.mercandalli@bm.com  
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