Oct 05 2007
Following the Money Trail
An article by Dori Molitor in The Reveries titled Ka Boom Ka Ching speaks to the power of the most powerful demographic: female boomers.
“Boomers are the largest, the wealthiest, the
highest spending, and the fastest growing segment
in the U.S. In the next ten years, the 50-plus segment
will grow by 96 percent, whereas the 18-49 age
segment will remain essentially flat.
In terms of sheer numbers, this 50-plus age segment
represents an opportunity. More importantly,
it controls all the money — 70 percent of U.S. net
worth, 50 percent of discretionary spending, and they
spend 2.5 times as much as younger consumers on a
per capita basis.
And yet, marketers are fixated on the traditional,
25-45 year-old head-of-household, with 1.2 children.
By and large, they see the 50-plus market as “old
geezers.” As a result, a generation of 80 million people
is under-served and misunderstood.
The overwhelming majority of boomer spending
power resides with women, who make 80 percent of
the purchasing decisions.”
Keeping this fact in mind, I did some research to determine if there is any quantitative research on the online purchasing behavior of female boomers and came up empty. This is very potent data that E-commerce marketers could use to drive conversion. My instincts tell me it’s much more powerful than the Yahoo study on “Passionistas”.
Note: I did find one study from Jupiter Research on European Baby Boomers, but it was not entirely relevant.
