How Do Retailers Make Sure that They Are Reaching the Older Customer - Thesis Example

One of the major changes of the century is the global aging population. As Richard Watson says in his book Future Files (2008), the aging population is the biggest trend that will shape the next 50 years and that will radically modify the way people consume. According to the British Parliament website, 10 million people in the UK are over 65 years old. The latest projections are for 5½ million more elderly people in 20 years' time and the number will have nearly doubled to around 19 million by 2050.

We can explain the trend by the fact that people are now not only living longer thanks to great progress in medicine but also the aging of the large number of individuals born during the baby boom. Hence, the 60 plus market represents a great market for retailers who shouldn’t ignore them since they not only have more time to shop than any other age category but they usually have a significant buying power across many product fields. However, they have different needs, including the fact that most of the time, they do not want to go shopping for hours in crowded and gigantic stores or others can’t because they don’t drive (mostly for seniors over 70 years old).

As a consequence, retailers have to find a way to reach these customers by bringing the products to them.Several ways can be used to do so, for example, the Internet or catalog shopping. They can also facilitate their shopping experience, for instance by offering to deliver the products that they choose in the shop directly at home for free.As Barry Gunter explains in his book Understanding the older customer (1998), when it comes to communication, a major mistake that the retailers need to avoid is stigmatizing the older customer with stereotypes regarding their physical and mental capacities as they could be misunderstood and depreciated.

Age is a relative concept; we can’t really define seniors by their age but more by the age felt. For doctors, people become seniors at the age of 70 years old when specific diseases affecting their patients.