• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, April 21, 2020

As the quarantine persists, consumer search data suggests that older generations are embracing at-home tech. Captify compared consumer search in the first two weeks of April to the first two weeks of March, before quarantine efforts began in the U.S.

Searches among adults age 55 years and up show increases in several types of technologies. For this group, video conferencing rose more than 187%, while streaming services rose 773% and online workouts and exercise rose 105%.

In fact, searches by older generations for at-home tech outpaced millennials, who by comparison saw video conferencing reach 168%, while streaming reached 392%; and workouts and exercise came in at 88%.

Amazon cut off consumers from buying protective gear and hand sanitizer, forcing searches to decline between March 15 and April 15.

N95 masks fell 69% likely because retailers like Amazon are no longer allowing customers to buy them, so they have stopped searching. Sanitizer fell 87% during this time period, probably because people are staying home more often and washing their hands.

Looking at data just prior to the quarantine and social distancing in the U.S., and searches for sanitizer skyrocketed to 2,938% from the beginning of January to the start of March.

Searches for protective gear are still important. Searches for masks rose 85%, while searches for thermometers rose 103% and those for Tylenol rose 130% between March 15 and April 15. Searches rose 107% for telemedicine and online and virtual health visits from March to April.

With the U.S. president extending the tax-filing deadline, it doesn’t seem that people are rushing to file. On March 20, the U.S. federal government moved tax day from April 15 to June 15, 2020 in response to the pandemic, leaving some time for last-minute tax filers.

Captify analyzed consumer search data from March 15 through April 15, and compared it to the prior-year period in 2019, when taxes were due on April 15.

With Tax Day postponed, search data suggests consumers are not rushing to file. In fact Captify data shows a 95% decrease in year over year search volume for taxes and tax Software during March and April, 2020. The data also suggests a 66% decrease in YoY for searches related to CPAs and Financial Advisers during March and April.