As noted in part one of this article, today's seniors are a lucrative and growing market for online merchants. Yet, as attractive as the age 65+ crowd is, analysts point to a still more lucrative group of older shoppers: the aging Baby Boomers.

Broadly defined, the older Boomer sector is those Internet users who are age 50 to 64. They will be a pioneering group: they'll be the first generation of seniors who are truly comfortable with online life.

While many of today's seniors didn't use the Internet at work, the aging Boomers are the very picture of the tech savvy user. "The computer and the Net has been so integrated into the workplace, in five years these near-seniors are going to bring all this experience of the Internet with them into retirement age," notes Forrester analyst Lynne Bishop.

Boomers are online in a major way and they are very comfortable in the online environment, regularly purchasing goods and services. Those companies that are on the ball are going to reach out to seniors online. This makes them a merchant's dream.

The 65+ crowd is very frugal and cautious — they are more likely to hit a big-box discount store and buy bulk toilet paper to save a few dollars. In contrast, the older Boomers have a greater emphasis on self-gratification, according to some experts. They're also much more comfortable shopping online.

If a marketer doesn't have an online strategy to reach these aging boomers, they will need one very soon.

10,000 A Day for Ten Years
Some estimates place the total size of the 50-64 year-old market roughly at 36.7 million. This market is growing quickly. The over-50 population is increasing faster than the under-50 population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Every day for the next ten years, more than 10,000 Boomers will turn age 50.

About two thirds of older Boomer are online (as opposed to about one quarter of 65+ users). Looked at another way, some experts estimate that nearly 20 percent of all Internet users are in the 50-64 age group, and that this percentage will bump up to 21.6 percent by 2008.

In comparison to today's seniors, some experts estimate the aging Boomers are three times more likely to go online and 50 percent more likely to use broadband. Some research indicates that broadband usage correlates with increased online shopping.

The older boomers are more into making travel reservations, reading the news, using rich media, banking online, and especially in managing their health.

Today's seniors are reluctant to buy online from a site they haven't heard of; if they don't know a business offline it won't get their dollars online. But with the age 50-64 group, there's a mentality of wanting to try new things and being adventurous. The fact that an online vendor is newly launched is no deterrent for them. Have browser, will travel.

What They're Shopping For
The three most common online activities for the older Boomer are checking weather (79 percent), looking for information about a hobby or interest (78 percent), and buying a product (71 percent), based on January 2005 data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Popular e-commerce activities include buying travel reservations (68 percent), checking financial information like stock quotes or mortgage rates (48 percent), and paying bills (33 percent).

Compared to the average Internet user, the 50-64 year-old is more likely to visit the five following categories, in this order: pharmacy, online trading, coupons, Lotto/sweepstakes, and consumer goods, based on comScore Media Metrix figures from April 2005.

The research firm Veritas asked Net shoppers in the 50-64 age group which products they had purchased online. The top categories were airline tickets (52 percent), books (49 percent), hotel reservations (43 percent), gifts over $50 (36 percent), home electronics (33 percent), CDs (28 percent), toys (22 percent), DVDs (20 percent), health and beauty products (18 percent), and home furnishings (12 percent). Interestingly, apparel, a popular item for younger online shoppers, does not show up in this list.

Reaching the Older Boomer Market
Matt Thornhill is president of the Boomer Project, a market research firm that specializes in marketing to consumers over age 50. He identifies key strategies for reaching these older consumers.

First, in terms of Web design, he endorses the design principles that were detailed in part one of this article [link]. That is, it's best to use a larger font size (or at least a flexible font size) and to emphasize Web page readability. "Things like color and contrast start applying — people start wearing 'cheaters' [reading glasses] as early as their mid 40s," he notes.

He also recommends:

• Use bolder colors rather than pastel colors Based on Thornhill's research, older boomer respond more to ads with bolder colors.
• Put your message in terms of a positive Researchers at Stanford University found that the older a consumer is, the more likely they will literally ignore negative messages, Thornhill says. So marketers, instead of presenting a message like "Don't forget to take your pill every night," will better reach older surfers with an approach like "Taking your pill every night is good for you."
• Use an emotion-based rather than a fact-based appeal Of course this strategy is true for all consumers - emotion is always more persuasive than logic. Yet it is even more true for older consumers, Thornhill says. "When you're young and you're making a purchase decision, you have to go through a reasoned thought process. But by the time you're 55, you've done that about 8 billion times - it's like, 'I don't have to think about it, I know what works for me.'"
• Market to their 'life stage' rather than their age "When you ask a Boomer 'how old do you feel?' their answer averages about 14 years younger than they are," Thornhill says. But this doesn't mean a 55-year-old should be marketed to like a 40-year-old - Boomers often don't follow traditional age-related behavior patterns. "Boomer haven't followed in their parents' footsteps," Thornhill says. "They keep recreating themselves every 3-5 years."

As an example, he notes that both David Letterman and Billy Crystal are 58 years-old. Yet Crystal has a 2-year-old granddaughter while Letterman has a less than 2-year-old son. "So they're the same age, but they're in completely different life stages," he says.

Thornhill notes that the classic 'life stages' categories in which to target older boomers include 'parent,' 'grandparent,' or, most typically, 'empty nester.'

Many other experts, who point out that merchants hoping to attract aging boomers must be aware that these individuals are in a transition period in their lives, echo this point. As Boomers are nearing the end of their traditional working years and they're looking at the next step — whether that be retirement or moving on to a new career. A prime example of this thinking can be found in a recent print ad by Merrill Lynch that takes this transitional state into account. Its headline is: "You live differently now."

The CEO of the AARP, William D. Novelli, gave a speech to the AARP in which he summed it up: "When we ask Boomers how they think of their retirement versus their parents', they say they will need more money, will be more self-indulgent, will be in better health and will live longer in retirement. In other words, they're not going to be stuffing those earnings inside their mattresses, they're going to continue being active consumers."

James Maguire is a contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. His weekly feature appears every Monday.

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