Home > All articles  Your advertisement here   US: The Coming Senior Shopper Boom Last week, I watched an older shopper, with a walker, work her way down the aisle of the grocery store. As I watched her make her way past the frozen pizzas, it suddenly hit me, why are walkers so damn ugly? They’re terrible. They’re boxy and they have that dull silver finish that makes your hands smell metallic. So I puzzled, why are women who were formerly or currently, for that matter, the height of fashion settling for something so creepy looking? Why don’t walkers come in crimson red, ebony black, or emerald green? What about hot colors? Why don’t they match their outfits? Why not make them look a little streamlined and, if I may say so, a little sexy? I guess no one sees the elderly or infirm as having fashion sense. They just write them off as being willing to take just about anything. It’s our culture’s form of putting them on an iceberg and letting them float out to sea. Well, we better change that outlook because, let me tell you, folks, there are a whole lot of baby boomers on the express lane to old age and infirmity, and most of them do not intend to go easy. This is a fighting generation that wants to stay young. According to the US Census bureau, starting in 2011, the 65 and over population is going to grow faster than the population in each of the fifty states. The actual population of senior citizen consumers is growing to grow from 33 million people in 2000 to 45 million people in 2015 and a whopping 62 million in 2025. That’s a whole lot of shoppers. It’s time manufacturers started designing elder care products that are great looking. Its time that they started gearing up for the next iteration of the baby boom generation. Because if there can be racing wheelchairs, there can be sexy walkers and flashy canes. (I mean literally flashy canes that blink when you walk just like little kids tennis shoes – that could be fun!) Let’s say that manufacturers start making products with a sense of style for their oldest consumers. Where will they go to buy them? Are retailers making plans for how they are going to take advantage of yet this next shift in the baby boomer continuum? Here are some questions that consumers, retailers, and manufacturers should be asking themselves about what and where senior consumers will be purchasing over the next several years: What kind of products will they want? Scrabble games with oversized pieces that are easier for you to read and pick up? High fashion hip pads that you wear on the outside of your clothes to protect yourself from breaking your hip if you fall. Sure-step shoes that look cool but keep you on your feet? Where should the products be merchandised? In sections designated for seniors or with other products in the same category? Hip pads with the sporting goods or with the health care products? Scrabble with toys or with bridge sets? What kind of stores should sell them? A category killer like Seniors R Us could capture the market. Maybe Wal-Mart could become All-Mart and really cater to the entire spectrum of humanity. What’s the best way to market to that segment? Do they shop for themselves or are their children buying for them? These children are, not so coincidentally, the same people who are in the store buying for their own children. Smart retailers will see a great marketing synergy with that combination. If seniors shop for themselves, what is the best way to market to them? Many don’t drive so should stores pick them up and drop them off back at home? Should retailers provide personal shoppers who make seniors feel like they are visiting a friend? What about a pick up and drop off service for qualified customers? What is the role of the Internet in all of this? Is it the right place to sell to shoppers who aren’t as mobile as they used to be? If so, is someone making simpler keyboards, oversized screens with oversized keys? Can they be utilized from a bed or an easy chair? Will brands of choice for baby boomers now be brands of choice for them when they are seniors? Nike hip pads anyone? How about Honda or Harley powered wheelchairs? Donna Karan walkers? Rawlings competition shuffleboard? Sony canes with gyroscopes that keep you upright? It’s going to be a brave new world for all of us – consumers, retailers, and suppliers. We’re all going to get older. Let’s do it with style. (rgottlieb7@nyc.rr.com) President Richard Gottlieb & Associates, LLC 100 John Street Suite 1612 New York, NY   10038 Phone : 314-276-5144 Richard Gottlieb & Associates, LLC   By Richard Gottlieb Date 14-08-2006 Print this news| Send to a friend Your advertisement here