In a survey published by Internet Retailer, Jupiter Research reports the number of Americans 65 and above who use the internet is accelerating—reaching 11.5 million in 2005 on the way to 20.1 million projected for 2010 (that will be about half of all seniors, compared to 74% of all Americans 18 and older).
Forrester’s Consumer Technographics places the income of online seniors at nearly twice that of their offline counterparts ($60,300 v 31,992) with household assets more than double the offline seniors’ average ($385,714 v. $178,083). Online seniors are about twice as likely to be college-educated, twice as likely to be employed and significantly more likely to be married or living with a partner (60% v. 37%).
For another take on all this, AdAge cites demographer Ken Dychtwald telling a gathering of media buyers and marketers they have it all wrong. "As an outsider," he told a gathering sponsored by cable network TV Land, "I see a situation where the boundaries and lines of demarcation don’t effectively line up with the new market opportunities," a misalignment he says leads to a mistaken belief about the nature of the marketplace. Instead of pursuing segments of 18-49 year-olds or 25-54 year-olds, Dychtwald advises, marketers should be looking at customers in clusters of 18-39, 40-59 and over 60. Do that, he says, and "you’ll get a look at a landscape that’s breathtaking."
What he means by breathtaking is something in the neighborhood of $2.1 trillion in buying power exercised by 40-60 year-old Americans. What’s more, that cash is vested in people who feel neglected by a marketplace that assumes consumers over the age of 40 are too set in their ways (and therefore too expensive to reach). Dychtwald wonders who’s kidding who: "Twenty percent of boomers have changed religions," he says," 50% have changed spouses—you think they’re not going to change toothpaste?"
Meanwhile, Nintendo is about to launch two video games aimed at mental acuity for an aging American population. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and Big Brain Academy, having sold nearly five million units in Japan, are set for release in the States this Spring. It could be slow-going in the early stages: The Entertainment Software Association reports just 19% of Americans over the age of of 50 say they play video games, compared with 35% under age 18 and 43% of 18 - 49-year-olds. But, lest we miss the obvious, since nobody’s getting any younger, it may just be a waiting game. And, as AdAge comments: "The promise of video games to sharpen mental acumen could create great appeal for a group facing longer physically healthy lives with the worry of less-than-promising mental health."
Are these trends sustainable? The coming cohort of American seniors—now aged 55-64—are more active online than their older siblings. And they open their wallets, averaging $120/month in the last 90 days—more than adult internet users on either side of their age group.
Forrester found that nearly half of 55-64 year-olds and a third of those over 65 bought airline tickets online in the prior 90 days. In other categories:
So…crass at this may be, if you’re selling something (or trying to think of something to sell), take the advice of the apostle Paul to Christians in the trade center at Ephesus: “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” [Ephesians 6:2-3 New International Version]
Or, since nobody’s getting any younger, it may behoove all of us to consider the practical wisdom of Moses:
The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.
— Psalm 90: 10-17 [New International Version]
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Let’s see . . . I’m on day 19,000-and-something of 29,200ish (if I have the strength) . . . Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days . . . May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children . . . May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. Yes. That’s what I’m talking about. So . . . if you don’t mind me asking . . . what day are you on?
