The Elderly Consumer and Adoption of Technologies

The study investigated adoption of several key consumer-related technologies by the elderly. Specifically, the adoption of scanner-equipped grocery stores, electronic funds transfer, automated teller machines, and custom telephone calling services was compared in an elderly and a nonelderiy sample of consumers. Results indicated that lower percentages of the elderly group were in the trial and adoption stages for most of the innovations. However, elderly consumers were more likely to adopt electronic funds transfer. The elderly also used sources of information to different degrees than did the nonelderly to learn about innovations.