Indians looking at blending online, offline worlds: Google’s Year in Search report
As per the report, searches for travel, financial and economic literacy, self-care and professional growth, have witnessed a marked increase over the previous year
Emerging from COVID-19 confident of their digital savvy, Indians are tapping into Search to strike a balanced blend of online convenience and real-world experiences, Google’s Year in Search report for 2022 has revealed.
As per the report, searches for travel, financial and economic literacy, self-care and professional growth, have witnessed a marked increase over the previous year, signalling people’s focus on evolving their identities towards their distinct individual preferences and needs.
Launching the report, Roma Datta Chobey, Senior Director-Digital First Businesses, Google India, said, “This year’s report points to people emerging from a period of disruption determined to claim control of their lives. As people become increasingly proficient in merging the ease of digital with the magic of experiential into a continuum, businesses too need to re-envision their channel strategies and minimize frictions between their online and in-store presence. As purchase patterns continue to evolve, people are also optimizing their spending towards brands they can trust and that share their concerns for the environment. ‘Green brands’ have an exciting opportunity to strengthen their credibility by sharing information about their contributions towards sustainability.”
The year saw people successfully merging the online with the offline to create a seamless continuum of convenience and a sense of being back in control. As interest in in-person events rose substantially with queries for ‘movie in theatre’ rising 220% and ‘live concert’ growing by 80%, so did searches for ‘OTT release’ by 380%.
Sporting events remained top of mind with queries on ‘cricket match ticket’ growing by 170% and ‘Fifa world cup ticket’ by over 140%. Having become adept at the hybrid lifestyle, people are using digital services to make their lives easier, and free up time they save to enjoy offline experiences that they most missed in the prolonged pandemic period. Their need to simplify their lives saw searches for ‘instant delivery’ growing by over 180% and in ‘e-wallet’ by over 40%.
As demand for travel in 2022 surpassed 2019’s pre-pandemic levels across most of APAC, in India too, searches for ‘international trip’ nearly doubled to grow at 80%. Search interest for ‘Thailand trip’ grew by over 90% and for ‘Europe trip’ by over 50%.
