Millennials have ceased to be the future of electronic commerce in favor of Silver Internet users. Internet use among those over 65 has increased greatly in recent years. The first users of Internet shopping were the Millennials, however, this generation has lost purchasing power in favor of their parents and grandparents, who are maintaining stable incomes and even pensions, have more time available and money to spend on the Internet.
On the other hand, the population of the whole world is aging. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more people over 65 in the world than children under 14. In particular, the number of adults over the age of 80 is expected to quadruple by 395 million.
The idea that Internet and online shopping are oblivious to this older consumer has become obsolete, however, the budget allocated to this target audience in marketing departments is minimal.
However, online retailers are not easy because the category of over 50 is very varied. It is a complex group with different interests, opinions, and abilities. There are huge differences between the “young at heart” who still work with 55-year-old retirees or 70-year-old assets, although everyone has the potential to shop online and consume.
For the younger generation, factors such as shipping costs are some of the biggest barriers to online shopping – something that is not of concern to Silver Internauts. On the contrary, ease of payment is important for the older generation. The Silver Internauts also feel more comfortable with web stores that have physical stores.
Online stores have to consider this group of consumers when designing their websites so that the products are presented clearly and to make the payment process simple.
In addition to this, most Silver Internet users search and buy whatever they want through a laptop computer. Only a quarter use their mobile phones. This vision is fundamental to build loyalty to this generation and can help learning to develop applications for mobile devices and websites, work on marketing priorities, segment and effectively distribute marketing investment.
Not taking into account the needs of people over 50 and ignoring their importance in setting marketing strategies is a missed opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition and attract a very profitable audience, as well as having a detrimental impact on the sales.
