Marketing to Boomers....or not....

let's compare the buying power of Boomers with that of the younger consumer: *

Boomers...

• 45% of the consumer market is ages 40-70 (Boomers were born between 1946 & 1964) -
  That is larger than all the other individual market cohorts combined -
• Spend a whopping $2.3 trillion annually on goods & services...That's $400 billion more than any other age cohort
• In 2010, Boomers controlled about 65% of the available disposable income
• As Boomers move toward & into retirement,
  they're looking to re-tool/re-define themselves & their lives...and they have both the means & the will (as history's most consuming generation) to do it right
• Boomers are not tied to a particular brand - but they are inspired by only certain marketing strategies; without those specific Boomer-friendly approaches they will not buy from you
  

Younger (traditional) market:

• Younger generations go through a "spending vortex" in their first 10-15 career years, meaning they either don't have as much to spend, or spend it extremely cautiously (as they spend all they have on their first home, for instance)
• Shrinking sales for retail giants like GAP that are geared to 20 & 30 something buyers, prove that the younger groups are not adding up at the cash register
• Auto industry studies show that consumers will buy 13 cars over a lifetime...
  only 6 of those are purchased before age 50
• Younger consumers tend to be slaves to specific big-brands and won't veer from them...That leaves out everyone who doesn't have a big name brand attached to their goods/services

* The Boomer Consumer by Matt Thornhill & John Martin

Kudos to the following companies for getting it...

I've discovered that Dove may get it when it comes to recognizing us as the go-to demographic, but doesn't get it, unfortunately, when it comes to our love of animals. 

This company unabashedly and unnecessarily tests on animals, often in torturous ways, to make sure their products won't hurt our little eyes....

It's the wrong trade-off, and I recommend you don't buy Dove products until they agree to d/c animal testing.

Why it's important to businesses & Boomers to get this right...

For businesses, targeting the traditional 18-39 market (which had its start, by the way, with Boomers back in the '70's...) means  working harder for each sale, going after folks with the least income to spend on things other than necessities (and even there doesn't "spend up" but looks to cut corners).
Young single people are just starting their careers and have not yet reached their peak earning years; and young couples are just starting a family, spending every dollar on only the basics as they build their life together.

For Boomers, this means product and service providers are not gearing their goods/services to our needs.  Here's two examples:

• the way products are packaged -  As more of us develop arthritis, the way many products are sealed becomes increasingly more difficult for us to manage; opening that hermetically sealed electric toothbrush or those caps on bottles that are so tight it takes a tool box to pry them lose, were no-brainers when we were younger - now they are still designed for youth...not us
• the way hotels are designed - covered in a 5/28/11 article in the Chicago Sun-Times, finding a more upscale place to enjoy a weekend away is getting more difficult for Boomers as we encounter common area lighting better suited for a nightclub, and seating that is so low we struggle to get back up...
  

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