ROMIR: Geoservices and search engines are the main assistants of Russians when choosing offline establishments

According to ROMIR, when choosing places for shopping and services offline, Russians primarily rely on digital technologies: among search tools, geoservices are the second most popular. According to the results of the 2025 study, 86% of the country's residents look for offline businesses through search engines, and 63% through geoservices such as Yandex Maps, 2GIS and others. Less than half of respondents prefer to consult with friends and rely on personal experience - 49% and 42%, respectively.

As for online maps, almost all users of such platforms (92%) have visited an establishment at least once only because they saw it in a geoservice. Moreover, more than a third (37%) rely on search results in online maps constantly or often. The most popular platforms for choosing places: Yandex Maps (53%), 2GIS (44%). Respondents use Google Maps much less frequently (3%).

The study showed that searching for new places is already part of everyday life for Russians: 83% of respondents search for offline points on the Internet several times a month. Among them, 9% make such requests daily, 31% - a couple of times a week, 17% - weekly, and 26% - 2-3 times a month.

Most often, Russians search for catering establishments (84%) and medical services (70%). Less often, respondents noted household services, places for recreation and entertainment, sports facilities and educational institutions.

At the same time, geoservices are usually used to clarify work schedules (48%), search for establishments in unfamiliar areas (47%) and choose the most conveniently located options (47%). In addition, 87% of online map users consider the recommendation system useful, 33% of them - “very useful”.

When choosing new places, every second person first of all pays attention to the price category, availability of the necessary goods and services, and proximity to the current location. In online maps, they also look at the rating (59%), reviews (51%), and the availability of online booking (47%).

The level of trust in various sources of information is approximately at the same level. Search engines (93%) and geoservices (89%) are trusted almost as much as recommendations from friends (91%).

Russians consider search engines (70%), geoservices (50%), and advice from relatives (49%) to be the most natural and unobtrusive source of information.

It is noteworthy that users who search for establishments every day have a level of trust in digital sources that is twice as high as those who do it occasionally.