Five Things Retailers Need to Know about Boomers

We were recently interviewed for the June cover story for STORES magazine, the trade publication of the National Retail Federation.

You can read the entire article here.

The "five things" are:

1. Boomers have two faces -- that is, there are leading edge and trailing edge Boomers, and because they are at different life stages, they have different needs from retailers. Don't treat them as a single group.
2. Single Income = Multiple Prospects -- fully One-third of Boomers – some 25 million people – head up single-income households. Careful, though: that doesn’t mean there’s only one person in the household, just one less person. More importantly during these difficult economic times, single-income households don't have brand preferences that are as strong as dual-income households. That means retailers trying to gain share from a competitor might be more successful luring uncommitted single-income Boomers. But what retailers out there are marketing to single-income Boomers?
3. Boomers are Zealots About Media -- they consume it all, but do so differently than younger consumers.
4. Grandparent Boomers are Nana from Heaven -- over 37% of Boomers are already grandparents. The average age of a Boomer who is a grandparent is 53. Oprah is 53. We're not talking about Estelle Getty from The Golden Girls. We're talking young, vibrant, active spenders -- especially on their new grandkids. Opportunities abound.
5. Target the Pepsi-Turned-Pepcid Generation -- There is a large underserved "middle market" of Boomers (McKinsey calls them "U-Boomers"). Figure out how to target them and you'll be in business.

Let us know what you think of the article, and tell us about any retailers you've come across that seem to understand the Boomer opportunity.

Boomer Women and Apparel Retailing

An article in last week's The Wall Street Journal about retailing to older women (and Boomer women), generated this discussion at RetailWire.com.

Essentially the debate is whether it is possible to create and market retail apparel brands to women over 35 today. Reading the various comments and you may come away with the same conclusions we did.

First, the people participating at RetailWire.com are smart. Most comments ring true and offer sound marketing advice (in summary, don't treat everyone over 35 the same -- segment, segment, segment).

Second, this isn't easy and boomer women are a moving target. That means consumer research is probably worth the investment.

Third, when it comes to fashion and apparel, the older a consumer gets, the more inner-directed they become. It's less about what others think and more about what you yourself think.

We're not the first to realize this (see David Wolfe's book, Ageless Marketing). But we're not the last either, judging by the mistakes already made by retailers in this category.

Brands and retailers in all categories that understand that the underlying motivation for older consumers is satisfying the inner self will succeed.

Large-and-Still-in-Charge

As a result of our strategic partnership with BIGresearch, we have released some news today about the importance of today's Boomer Consumer, along with the official press release of the book.

The headline:

Surveys Show Boomers Drive U.S. Consumer Confidence, Remain Nation's Wealthiest Consumer Group

New Book Also Released by Founders of the Boomer Project: Retailers Remain Focused on Younger Age Groups, Despite Boomer Wealth, Spending and Attitudes



You can read all about it here.

Power of Prescriptions

Walgreen's recently announced their quarterly earnings and reported that prescription sales lifted their profits 20%.

We wrote about the resiliency the major drug store chains have had in defending their turf against Wal-Mart in last month's BoomerMarketingNews, our paid newsletter.

In that piece we shared findings from the BIGresearch Consumer Intentions & Actions study from April 2007, that showed how traditional national chains were preferred for prescription drugs three to one over Wal-Mart.

Our point is that Boomers (and other consumers) will pay for "trusted advice." We expect to see more of it in other retail categories as a way to beat back Wal-Mart (witness Best Buy's dedicated appliance expert on duty in every store and even online).

This is a trend to watch, especially with Boomers growing older -- as Walgreen's CEO noted: "The growth opportunity we have ahead of is exciting," said Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey A. Rein. "With the first of 78 million Baby Boomers turning 65 in 2011, the demand for pharmacy services will get bigger and bigger," he predicted.

Yet another trend to watch.