Store Goodwill with Seniors

What’s your guess as to the fastest-growing age cohort among U.S. consumers? Based on the media attention devoted to Millennials, you might think it’s them. But according to yesterday’s Marketing Daily commentary, it is instead those who are at least age 65.
     And a report from eMarketer says senior citizens are significantly less interested than younger adults in making purchases online. Where about 77% of the general population use the internet regularly, only about 52% of seniors do. While about 57% of mobile phone users are smartphone users, the figure is only about 24% for seniors.
     The eMarketer report suggests communicating with seniors via TV, since this cohort spends nearly twice as much time watching television as do young adults. But an even better alternative for the small to midsize retailer is to communicate in-store. To maximize the effectiveness, keep it easy for senior citizen shoppers to come by early in the day.

• Seniors are more concerned about their physical security than are younger shoppers. They feel more comfortable being out and about earlier in the day than later in the day. 
• As the eyes age, they require more light. Marketers are wisely moving to the use of bolder colors and more contrast in product packing. But for stores that let daylight enter, the morning brightness can help seniors tell the blues from the greens and the foregrounds from the backgrounds. 
• When older adults are in your aisles in the AM, they are better able to analyze selling points in detail rather than depending on global impressions. As a result, the morning shoppers are more likely to make purchase decisions they’ll later think about favorably. 
• Seniors can be a valuable source of advice for retailers. When they complain, it is often with the intent to continue to do business with the store, not to start shopping elsewhere. This is more true than with complaints coming from younger consumers. Seniors are less mobile than younger customers and therefore have more of an investment in continuing to shop at the same stores. Another explanation is that age brings tolerance for imperfection. In any case, you—the retailer—can pick up some good ideas about improving your business from seniors. Morning is better than afternoon both because the seniors are likely to have more energy to talk and because you've more opportunity to listen than during busier afternoon and evening store hours. 

Click below for more: 
Offer the Time of Their Lives to Senior Citizens
Brain It on Home with Senior Citizen Emotions
Help Seniors to Shop Early