• Enjoy four days earlier what you found thanks to online search
• Many onliners are unaware of the time they can save with the Internet

Munich, 4 November 2009 – The Germans have saved 624 million hours in the last 12 months by searching on the Internet. That is the finding of the representative Scout24 Best Match Survey 2009. The focus of the survey was on the search for key things in life like property, a car, a job, a partner, or investment and insurance. Those surveyed who say they search only offline spent an average of 153 hours per person on going around making enquiries at estate agents’, brokers’, dealers’ or advisers’. But those who instead of driving from service provider to service provider look up and compare offers exclusively online, are successful after just 52 hours. That equates to saving about 100 hours per searcher a year. That makes four days more that each onliner can spend with his/her property, dream car or partner for life.

The survey was carried out by Scout24 and the Innofact market research institute, studying search and find processes in Germany. The detailed survey of the six segments property, car, job, partner, investment and insurance shows that the seekers are not really aware at first of the time they can save by using the Internet: for instance, in each segment online searchers had set aside a great deal more time than they actually ended up spending to find the best match. They found the property they wanted a whole six weeks earlier than they had initially estimated, and the right partner even eight weeks earlier. Those surveyed took at least two weeks less than they had feared to find a car and a job. With investments and insurance, too, the search process took one week less than expected.

“Properties, cars, jobs, partners, investments and insurance are all wishes associated with a high level of financial or emotional commitment”, says Dr. Martin Enderle, CEO of Scout24, one of the leading corporate groups of online marketplaces in Europe. “That is why people naturally want to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible. The study shows that the Internet is not only the best option in terms of time, but also for satisfaction. 82% of people searching online are very satisfied or satisfied with their find. That’s five percentage points more than the satisfaction rate among those who search exclusively offline.”

For more information on the Best Match Survey go to: www.best-match-survey.de.

About the Best Match Survey 2009

A total of more than 2,500 people over 18 years of age were asked in a nationwide study by Innofact about their needs, wishes and their search pattern. The focus was on the key spheres of life: the home, mobility, job, partnership and finances. The study concentrated on the aspects of motivation, search length and procedure, where to search and find, as well as opinions and ratings of detailed issues to do with the particular search and decision-making process. The market research company conducted two separate surveys for the study: the over-18 German population was surveyed by means of a representative telephone poll. In addition, regular Internet users were interviewed online about their search and find habits. The demographic distribution of the two random samples equates to that of the German population. The entire study was carried out from mid-April to the end of May 2009.

Scout24 is one of Europe's leading groups of companies for online market places. The seven marketplaces of the Scout24 Group, AutoScout24, ElectronicScout24, FinanceScout24, FriendScout24, ImmobilienScout24, JobScout24, TravelScout24 and the portal Jobs.de are present in 18 countries. As a strong partner, Scout supports its customers in important decisions, in particular in the fields of housing, mobility, employment, partnership and finance.

Every month, around eight million Internet users place their confidence in the offerings provided by the Scout24 Group, which is a part of the Deutsche Telekom Group. Further information is available under www.scout24.com.