The Myth of ‘Old’ People
Another gloomy report on quarterly retail sales from brick-and-mortar stores. So why have retailers abandoned “old people,” defined by Pew Research as age 65-plus? They have also abandoned the largest spending potential.
Jakob Nielsen, NN/g, said that older Americans are underserved. In an interview with MarketWatch, Nielsen said: “Based on the number of businesses that have bought reports for each age group, there is three times as much interest in catering to teenagers as for seniors, but there’s probably 10 times as much money to be made from seniors.”
The senior market is growing and more affluent than other sectors. The medium net worth of senior households is $108,000; under 35 years old is $7,240.
This group is also working past 65 and earning added income. Yet marketers are still chasing the younger market. The most important finding for this age group is that its tech knowledge is growing. The 65-plus group also can afford a $1,000 cell phone or tablet.
If retail, or any marketer, wants to increase sales and meet quarterly goals, it’s time to begin targeting older audiences.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.