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Health & Fitness

Better Business Bureau Offers Free Online Feature

Now consumers and business owners alike can check out the purchase planning trends from the last six to thirty-six months; a great indicator for future purchases.

Better Business Bureau (BBB) offers a free online service, Consumer Purchase Planning Trends. This service is offered exclusively on BBB’s website and indicates current purchasing trends made by consumers for ten different industries. 

Consumers and business owners alike can check out the purchase planning trends from the last six to thirty-six months; a great indicator for future purchases. The public checks out a business, at BBB serving Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont, over 300,000 times a month. Consumers are looking for trusted businesses. The sectors include: 

● Automotive, Marine and Aircraft 
● Business to Business Services 
● Financial 
● Food 
● Health and Personal Improvement 
● Home Remodeling, Producers, Wholesalers & Distributors 
● Retail 
● Services 
● Telemarketing & Prize Promotions 

This service also shows the percentage increase or decrease of each sector from the previous month along with the number of inquiries from consumers. In May 2013, the public inquired about businesses within BBB’s service area a total of 320,430 times. The five sectors that saw an increase from April 2013 to May 2013 were: 

Automotive, Marine & Aircraft (3.84%) 
Home Remodeling, Construction & Maintenance (7.70%) 
Manufacturers, Producers, Wholesalers & Distributors (7.89%) 
Retail (0.61%) 
Telemarketing & Prize Promotions (50.46%) 

“This is an invaluable service for businesses to see where consumers will be spending money,” said Paula Fleming, Vice President of Communications and Marketing for the local BBB. 

The purchase planning information will help predict where consumers are thinking of spending their money on a monthly basis. To take advantage of this new feature or to learn more, visit bbb.org/boston/public/trends.

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