Appealing To The Affluent Older Consumer: A Retail Guide

Nearly half (49%) of those aged 52 to 70 spend at least 11 hours a week online, according to the 2015 State of the User Experience report from Limelight Networks, a content delivery specialist. That compares with 42% of millennials (19- to 35-year-olds). A lot of that online time is spent spending. Boomers ranked researching and shopping as the third and fourth most important online activities (following news consumption and social media), according to the report. Millennials ranked shopping as fifth most important. And when it comes to shopping on mobile, one in four people aged 55 and older do so, according to a report by BI Intelligence, a research service from Business Insider. Further, 24% of online shoppers fall between the ages of 45 and 54, though that age group represents less than 20% of the population. “This older generation, those over 50, 60 and 70, they have computers, they have smartphones, and very directly they’re using them for everything, from canned tomatoes to television sets, to order those things online,” Wayne Best, chief economist at Visa, told The Street in mid-December. West also pointed out that boomers generate more than 51% of the spending in the United States (and have a total annual economic activity of roughly $7.6 trillion, according to AARP). Regardless of where or how that 51% of spending occurs, the fact is older consumers represent a sizable and potentially lucrative long-term market base for digital retail. Some retailers are noticing, and others can learn from their efforts. Following are four factors that help define and engage the online boomer consumer. Read more at Forbes.