Baby Boomers Embrace Online Beauty Market

05/07/2010

According to a recent survey conducted by Mintel, baby boomers-particularly women-provide online retailers and marketers with a profitable and burgeoning target market. Current online shopping trends coupled with innovative internet marketing strategies reveal that if retailers can successfully identify and meet the needs of this unique demographic, increasing sales and consumer loyalty will follow.

Mintel’s findings revealed that 10% of women purchase cosmetics and beauty products from online retailers. They also concluded that the female population of boomers, one of the largest beauty customer markets, will increase by 30.9% between the years 2005-2015. Furthermore, the survey showed that women in this demographic spent approximately 13 hours per week online

Where Shoppers Head For Beauty Bargains

In reference to online sales only, shoppers revealed they visited a number of online retailers including:
•Mass merchandiser sites (8%)
•Wal-Mart.com (8%)
•Target.com (8%)
•Drugstores (i.e. CVS or Walgreens) (5%)
•Unnamed online retailers (8%)

Of those surveyed, forty-seven percent disclosed they prefer to be left alone when shopping for cosmetics, which Mintel suggests means they are wanting to browse at their own leisure and also makes online shopping even more attractive.

Addressing Age & Gender in Online Retail

For online retailers and marketers, discovering and catering specifically to the needs and desires of baby boomers is critical and lucrative. Mintel and The Nielsen Company suggest several ways in which retailers and internet marketing professionals can keep baby boomers happy and spending:

•Addressing the needs of each generation individually
•Creating monthly or quarterly cash-back savings programs based on spending levels
•Utilizing email and social networking sites like Twitter to increase visibility and to market products and services
•Offering contests and prizes

Other experts also stress the importance of online marketers knowing the difference between men and women as consumers, and understanding that women tend to see patterns over time and are more apt to look for stability for the long run.