The New Power Shopper
Savvy marketers (at last!) are catering to elders, with products that are both useful and stylish. Here's the scoop on this shopping trend, along with some of our favorite items for summer.
By Valerie Kramer Davis
Thursday, May 08, 2008
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Quick—who has more buying power: a 25-year-old college grad making $32,000 a year, with endless school loans and mounting credit card debt, or his retired parents, living comfortably on 401(k)s and a portfolio of smart investments in blue chip stocks?
The answer is a no-brainer, and research proves it. According to U.S. Census statistics, people age 55 and older control 70 percent of the disposable income in the United States. And finally, marketers are waking up.
"Companies are just silly not to market to this age group," says Peter Geisheker, CEO of Geisheker Group Inc., a strategic marketing company in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
In the last two years, marketing to people age 60 and older has increased "at least 10 percent," he says. "Market stats show the large amount of people entering this age group and the amount of disposable income this generation has."
Elders shop for big-ticket items, too—new cars (older people buy more than 40 percent of new cars each year), vacation packages, cruise and plane tickets. And they've embraced Internet shopping, spending more than $7 billion online last year. Frank Yanda, 63, of Iowa, buys online to make life "easier," he says. "I can look at products, pick out what I like and it comes straight to my door."
So, what does the older consumer want? Top of the list: Scam protection. "This generation has been around the block," says Geisheker, which is why strong money-back guarantees and customer testimonials are becoming more common. They also want things they can actually use: cell phones with easy-to-read screens, gadgets with human-sized controls. What they don't want: products that scream "senior." "I like functional things, but I'm not ready to look or feel old yet," says Micki Stewart, age 66, of Fort Myers, Florida. "When I look for things that make my life easy, I'm not going to sacrifice my style."
Businesses are catching on. Elderluxe, a catalogue and Internet company that caters to the older crowd, offers a wide range of upscale products, from ergonomic cookware to yoga gear. "I want to make lives more positive," says Elderluxe founder Pat Conboy. "There are stores for babies, moms, and bass fisherman, but there just wasn't one that squarely looks at this population." This fall, well-known architect and designer Michael Graves will be introducing the Michael Graves Active Living Collection, a line of stylish home products with universal design, including a bath rail with a spot for a cell phone, a high-tech showerhead, and more.
–Valerie Kramer Davis (vkdfreelance.com) is a freelance writer living in Birmingham, Alabama.
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