Older Age Groups & Mobile Phones

Researching online purchases in stores

Typically, consumers will visit the internet to comparison shop before making an in-store purchase. A new study by the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future explored the opposite situation with consumers ages 50 and over who visited stores to view products and then made their purchase online. eMarketer estimates that the percentage of Internet users ages 62 and older will increase at a rate of 7.6% average annual growth rate from 2006 to 2011 – this is more than twice the 3.1% growth rate for the entire US Internet population.

Older Age Groups Show Growing Interest in Mobile Use

The youth market has traditionally led the way in mobile marketing, but the older generation is beginning to take part in these campaigns as well. That is the word from a new study from the Mobile Marketers Association (MMA). Youths are the most the likely to use texting features and participate in mobile ad campaigns at 30-40%. However, the older age groups are increasing their use of texting and other mobile features according to the study. The MMA survey 1800 users between 13 and 65 years of age. It found that 70% of consumers have used text messaging, making texting the most popular feature on a mobile phone. 44% of consumers use text messaging daily and this number is growing.

Internet and Mobile Phone Activities Conducted by US Seniors Ages 99+*

Although you may not be tareting people 99 years old or older, you may be surprised to learn just how many of them are online or use a mobile phone.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there will be more than 100,000 American's 100 or older by 2010.