Sensis to cease distribution of Sydney & Melbourne residential White Pages

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 18 May 2011 15:48

IT Industry - Strategy

Sensis has confirmed that it will cease distributing the Sydney and Melbourne residential White Pages directories to every household but will instead provide these on request.

Distribution of the Business and Government White Pages will continue unchanged, as will White Pages distribution everywhere else in Australia.

From 28 May, Melbourne residents will be able to order a copy of the 2012/2013 White Pages residential book by telephone, online or by visiting their local Australia Post outlet. Sydney residents will be able to place orders for their directory from 23 July.

Peter Barclay, White Pages group manager, said: "Nowadays, consumers are more reluctant to have their personal contact information printed in the residential book which means the content is less relevant.

"Also, the residential book no longer supports the way consumers are searching for information, they're increasingly going online or using mobile phones and personal address books to search for residential information. Our research also tells us that 83 percent of the searches conducted in the White Pages are for Business and Government contact information compared to just 17 percent for residential."

Sensis did not give a breakdown of White Pages searching by the various available channels but said: "Across the entire White Pages multichannel network which includes print, voice, mobile and online, there are now more than 5.5 million users a week.

Barclay, however hinted that more changes could follow, saying: "We will continue to innovate and invest in our multichannel network of products and services to ensure the White Pages remains relevant for users and advertisers."