People turned to Google to search for ration dukaan (grocery store), how to homeschool kids and even, best trading platforms — with these terms seeing a huge spike in the January-March — as people seek ideas on how they can stay productive indoors amid the coronavirus outbreak.
According to data released by Google, "near me" searches have seen a massive uptick, especially queries like "pharmacy near me" (58 per cent rise), "grocery delivery near me" (550 per cent) and "ration dukaan" (300 per cent).
It added that unlike 2019 when queries like ''best headset'' or best mattress'' were popular, 2020 was all about ''best movies'' (35 per cent rise) and ''Best trading platforms'' (45 per cent jump).
With a majority of users being homebound, there has also been high growth in queries like ''learn online'', ''teach online, and ''at-home learning''. In fact, 1 out of every 2 consumers is seeking personalised information from brands by searching for queries like ''how to homeschool kids'' and ''how to WFH'', the data showed. Interestingly, queries in the health category have recently pivoted toward ''immunity'' (500 per cent rise). Searches for vitamin C, which grew by 40 per cent in 2019, have surged by over 150 per cent in recent weeks, as have queries for herbs with medicinal properties like giloy (380 per cent rise) and Ayurvedic home remedies like Kadha (90 per cent rise).