Second50Years Marketing Blog

It seems counter-intuitive since we are used to people researching online and then buying at a store. But, new data from the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future has found that consumers 50+ do just the opposite.

Researchers found that some two-thirds of consumers between the ages of 50 and 60 had researched their online purchases at stores. More than half of consumers ages 70 and over had done that.

Why? Earlier research by the same organization had shown that older consumers are less enamored with buying products online than younger users. In that study 82% of people 65+ said they don’t like giving their credit card number or personal information online; and 84% said they prefer to see the things they buy before buying them.

Perhaps, older consumers check out the item in the store, think about it, and then order online rather than return to the store.

In any case, e-tailers can hardly ignore the older consumer, and even bricks and mortar retailers must offer multi-channel options for consumers. eMarketer estimates that the percentage of Internet users ages 62 and older will increase at a rate more than twice that of the entire US Internet population between 2006 and 2011 (7.6% growth vs 3.1% growth).

Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst at eMarketer, said, “Online seniors are a lucrative consumer segment that Web retailers cannot afford to ignore….They have higher incomes and are more likely to be employed than seniors overall.”