Facilitate Downsizing for Senior Shoppers

The Detroit-area condominium developers couldn’t figure out why so few lookers were turning into buyers. The target market consisted of retirees ready to sell a larger home now that other family members had moved on or passed on. Careful research, including focus groups with prospective purchasers, had provided ideas for pricing and physical designs of the units—ideas which were carefully implemented. But this wasn’t enough, it became clear.
     Then, report the business consultants from Cambridge Group and Innosight who analyzed this case, there was a breakthrough in the form of three words: Interviews with those who had purchased units already often included the phrase “dining room table.” Once the condominium shopper figured out what to do with the big dining room table from the larger home, they came closer to signing the contract for the condo. Further inquiry revealed that the underlying themes were wanting places to socialize with family and the challenge in disposing of possessions. The condo builders reconfigured the floor plans to allow for more hosting areas. They also began offering buyers two years of on-site storage space and use of a “sorting room” for pruning down the possessions.
     In the retail store, too, you can bolster business by facilitating downsizing for senior shoppers.

• Shorter aisle lengths require less walking by senior citizen shoppers. Shorter aisles also look less intimidating. In areas of your store where you stock merchandise primarily of interest to elderly shoppers, divide up long aisles with cul-de-sacs. And can you fit in a bench on which shoppers might take a brief break? 
• If you carry a broad assortment of brands and models in a category, feature a few of them within easy reach for the elderly shopper. This makes decisions quicker, especially later in the day, when the older brain is more readily confused. 
• Keep package sizes small. That makes them easier for older hands and arms to lift from the shelf and accurately place into a basket. The elderly generally prefer smaller package sizes for additional reasons. Perishable products can spoil too quickly if the customer is no longer living with a full family. When retirement checks barely cover expenses, smaller item sizes are more affordable. And the elderly often have limited storage areas at home. 

     A skilled retail store operator also can provide opportunities for in-store socializing, completing the lesson from the “dining room table” case study.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more: 
Probe for Intentions in Focus Groups
Downsize for Elderly Shoppers
Retire Hopes for Unitary Retirement Marketing