Mediapost has new data to support the idea that gas prices and remote locations are factors that fuel online shopping and purchasing--only their data suggests that rural residents are most interested in looking at online storefronts for businesses they can shop in the real world as well.

According to a Hitwise report released this week, "consumers living in the rural United States were responsible for about 44 percent of traffic to online shopping and classifieds sites for the four weeks ending Dec. 4. By contrast, Americans living in urban areas contributed to about 15 percent of e-commerce traffic, suburbanites made up about 24 percent, and small city dwellers made up about 16 percent of all traffic. "

This data suggests that local shopping and coupons initiatives like ShopLocal, which is a newspaper-linked product owned by Knight Ridder, Gannett and Tribune, will do well in smaller markets, where mom and pop stores hold sway (unless people feel the same sort of affinity with their local Walmart.)