As your small retail store prepares for the holiday shopping season, don’t forget about an often overlooked, but highly profitable, segment of shoppers: Grandparents.
Polling company CivicScience analyzed data from nearly 185,000 grandparents who responded to its surveys in the past year. Below is what they found and how it can shape your holiday marketing.
Why Targeting Grandparents Can Pay Off
Grandparents are More Likely to Frequent Brick-and-Mortar Stores
More than 70 percent of grandparents do most or all of their shopping at physical stores. Better yet, they are more likely than parents to shop at small, independent retail stores (16 percent, compared to 9 percent of parents).
What to do About it:
Emphasize your store’s independent roots. Play up your story, yourself and your employees in your marketing. Participate in Small Business Saturday (November 29, 2014) to attract attention as an independent retailer.
Upscale Grandparents Buy More
While many grandparents are on a fixed income, there are plenty who have money to spare. Grandparents most likely to say they “spoil” their grandchildren with gifts typically have annual household incomes of $150,000 or more.
What to do About it:
Because these grandparents also watch an average of six hours of TV per day, cable advertising can be a good way to reach this segment. Since other studies have shown that high-income consumers are more likely to shop online, try including your website URL in your ads to attract those seniors who want to shop or research purchases online.
Tap Younger Grandparents
Nearly one-fourth (22 percent) of the grandparents polled were under the age of 55. This means they’re more likely to be employed and more likely to shop online.
Even among grandparents, online shopping is gaining slightly: Seventeen percent, compared to 13 percent a year ago, say they spend time both equally online and in physical stores.
What to do About it:
Even if you don’t sell products online, be sure your store’s website provides plenty of information about your products, as well as contact information including address, directions, hours and a phone number.
More and more seniors are using the Internet to research before they buy. If your website encourages web users to call for more information or to put products on hold, you’re more likely to attract seniors who will come by to see the items in person.
Seniors Face Physical Limitations
As seniors age, getting out to shop becomes more difficult, especially during the hectic holiday season. They may not want to drive after dark, struggle with crowded parking lots or get jostled by crowds.
What to do About it:
Make your store is as senior-friendly as possible by:
- Brightly lighting windows and displays.
- Keeping aisles wide enough for those with canes or walkers to navigate.
- Using easily readable fonts and font sizes on signage, product information and price tags.
- Keeping background music to a level that promotes conversation.
- Providing seating for shoppers to rest.
Seniors Appreciate Personal Interaction
While younger consumers may be happy with online shopping and self-serve kiosks, older shoppers appreciate old-fashioned service. That means they like to chat with clerks, ask questions and enjoy the “human touch” in transactions.
What to do About it:
Train your sales staff on how to deal politely with older customers who may take more time to make decisions, have trouble hearing clearly in a noisy store or want to pay with checks. Younger employees especially may come off as rude to seniors. So it’s important to make sure older customers don’t feel rushed or patronized.
Seniors Avoid the Rush
CivicScience reports that seniors are more likely to stretch their shopping over longer periods than the average customer, and less likely to attend big “sale days” like Black Friday. Some 15 percent of parents, but just 8 percent of grandparents, hit the stores that day.
What to do About it:
Encourage seniors to shop early in the season or on “off” days and times. For instance, put print ads in newspapers (still widely read by seniors) or send direct mail postcards to seniors in your target market advertising sales at times when most people are at work, like 9 to 11 on Tuesdays.
Grandparents Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
Grandparents also have lots of time and money. This is the reason why they are a really good market to target especially this Christmas.