Jul 22

Written by: IRI Blog
7/22/2009 2:46 PM

Today, we hosted a webinar that discussed in detail recent findings on research surrounding the nation’s largest demographic – baby boomers.  This group holds half of total U.S. spending power and is of great significance to the CPG industry.  Our research reveals that baby boomers are not just one group of similar individuals, but vary across the 20-year spectrum between 1946 and 1964 used to identify this generation.

In our report, “Baby Boomers II: Preparing for the Upcoming Wave of Aging Shopper Growth,” we examined the broad range of baby boomer lifestyle changes and identified top-indexing food and non-food categories, recession-driven shopping patterns and key opportunities for private label and health and wellness products.

We created three age segments within this study to capture their distinct cultural experiences, current lifestyles and attitudes:  LBJ (aged 34-43), Kennedy (aged 44-52) and Truman Boomer (aged 53-62).  These distinct groups of mature Americans represent a $50 billion dollar growth opportunity for the CPG industry.

A few highlights from the report include:

Channel & Category Insights

• When consumers reach their 60s, they shop more frequently and a greater share of their total CPG spending is done at smaller format stores, including drug stores and dollar stores, at the expense of grocery, mass and supercenters. For instance, Truman Boomers (aged 53-62) make 15 trips to drug stores annually versus 11 trips by LBJs (aged 34-43).
• Aging shoppers rely heavily on many over-the-counter (OTC) products, such as vitamins and gastrointestinal tablets, but purchase less personal items, including deodorant and shampoo, than their younger counterparts.

Shopper Attitudes: Economy

• Aging shoppers are most concerned with “immediate personal impact” areas of the economy, including price of gasoline (72 percent), home utilities (70 percent) and food costs (77 percent) versus home value (41 percent) and access to personal credit (16 percent).
• Across all boomer segments, fewer than 25 percent have cut back spending on essentials, such as food, beverages and household cleaning supplies. In contrast, they have pulled back spending significantly on discretionary purchases, such as auto care (52 percent) and entertainment (51 percent).

Private Label Performance

• 83 percent of Truman Boomers (aged 53-62) versus 70 percent of Kennedy Boomers (aged 44-52) say store brands are of excellent quality. At the same time, 79 percent of the younger LBJs (aged 34-43) like store brands.
• 66 percent of Truman Boomers buy store brands instead of name brands.

These and many other shopper insights highlighted in our “Baby Boomers” research can help CPG marketers, retailers and manufacturers capture greater market share and learn how to maximize their reach to boomer shoppers through effective segmentation.

If you’d like to receive a recap of the insights discussed in the webinar please visit http://us.infores.com/Insights/Reports/BabyBoomersII/tabid/247/Default.aspx to download an overview of the presentation.

Best,
Sean Seitzinger

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