• Financial Services Providers need to wake up to the potential of the over-50s market online.
• Financial products are the most popular searches among over-50s online.
;
50connect.co.uk, the UK’s largest website for the over-50s has discovered that financial products, such as home insurance and pensions, are the most popular searches among the over-50s online.
The results come in the wake of research released by Datamonitor that the over-50s, despite controlling much of the UK’s wealth, are being neglected by financial services providers and in many cases, especially when it comes to holiday and health insurance, are being actively discriminated against.
;
Home Insurance(2), Pension Planning(1) and Inheritance Tax (4) were all among the top 4 searches on the 50 Connect search engine between November 2004 and January 2005. Mobile Phones (3) was the third most popular search.
;
“The over-50s are interested in buying financial products online, as our search analysis proves, but many providers appear to be failing them,” comments 50Connect Managing Director, Philip Cooper.
The internet has made shopping around for better deals on anything from groceries to flying a way of life for many over-50s with many changing long held consumer habits as a result.
;
The over-50s online are also more likely to be financially secure than their off-line counterparts.
Research undertaken by the Kaiser Family Foundation in the United States recently revealed that 70 percent of seniors have never gone online. However, of seniors with more than $50,000 in income, two thirds have been on the internet, making the over-50s online a very attractive demographic to target.
;
As the over-50s population grows and becomes increasingly more confident about buying online, 50 Connect predict that demand for financial products online among the over-50s will increase significantly.
;
“Financial services providers need to open their eyes to the potential of this growing market,” concludes Mr. Cooper, “and realise that the years leading up to, and shortly after, retirement are when most people seriously begin to think about their money and what products are best for them.”
;
Notes:
Of the 2,000 searches, Pension Planning received 410 searches, Home Insurance 194, Mobile Phones 176 and Inheritance Tax 89.
50Connect is the UK’s largest website for the over-45s with With 947,000 monthly users. 50 Connect Finance, is the site’s most popular channel after 50 Connect Travel, with 552,352 monthly page impressions.