Munich/Hamburg, 2 October 2009 - 48% of adult Germans went at least once in the last 12 months in search of a property, a car, a job, a partner or investment and insurance. They took their time for these key decisions: per person the Germans invested 98 hours in the search. That adds up to 6.7 billion hours a year. That's what Scout24 found out in conjunction with the market research institute Innofact in the largest representative study on searching and finding in Germany. Some 2,500 people over 18 years of age were surveyed. The study confirms that the Internet has become the most popular place to search. Most people are successful on the Internet and are happiest with their search.

The effort is rewarded: about 76% of people looking for insurance find it. More than half of all Germans are successful in their search for the right car. The hardest is looking for a new job: but even here the success rate is still just over 30%.

For all that success the search is anything but tedious: 49% of all search processes are felt to be fun. The fun factor for those hunting on the Internet is even 52%. Satisfaction with the whole search process is the highest when on the Net: 72% of online searchers are satisfied with it, offline the figure is 62%. The Internet has established itself in a position of strength: 61% search on online marketplaces and 43% on Websites of individual providers. 50% of search processes are outside the Internet.

"The Internet is already speeding up the search for the important things in life", says Dr. Martin Enderle, CEO of Scout24, one of the leading corporate groups of online marketplaces in Europe. "Saving time is a key factor, given the huge investment in the search - still nearly 100 hours a year. Equally important are transparency, simplicity and inspiration. These play a crucial part in finding what is right for the individual, the Best Match. This is where the Internet shows its strengths." The study also reveals the importance of good preparation and advice in finding the Best Match: when regular Internet users have a clear idea of what they are looking for or take the advice of close acquaintances, the satisfaction rate is roughly 90%.

For more information on the Best Match Survey: 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, work, 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.