Abstract
For some time marketing researchers have called upon their practitioner counterparts to take heed of a growing segment in the U.S. -- that segment known as the elderly. As early as 1960 demographers began to chart the growing population trend that those 55 years and older were increasing at a rate much faster than than other age segments of the population (Business Week 1960). By the mid 1970’s it was concluded that the elderly population was growing at twice the rate of the population as a whole (Brotman 1977) and this was confirmed by the research of Linden (1986) who found that the 65 years and older age segment was growing at a 2.52 percent annual pace, while the rest of the population was growing at only a 1.16 percent rate. And even as late as 1985 it was argued that the elderly market was still a neglected target for consideration (Visvabharathy and Rink 1985). Though one could develop support for this argument, the prepon-derance of evidence appears to be quite the contrary.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Beveridge, W. E. (1980), "Retirement and Life Significance: A Study of the Adjustment to retirement of a Sample of Men at Management Level," Human Relations, 33 (1), 69–78.
Brotman, H. B. (1977), "Population Projection Part I: Tomorrow’s Older Population (to 2000)," The Gerontologist, 17 (June), 203–209.
Business Week (1960), "How the Old Age Market Looks," February 13, 37–38.
Engel, J. F., H. F. Fiorillo, and M. A. Cayley (1972), "Introduction and Overview," in J. F. Engel et al., eds. Market Segmentation: Concepts and Applications. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1–19,
Festervand, T. A. and J. R. Lumpkin (1985), "Response of Elderly Consumers to Their Portrayal by Advertisers," in J. H. Leigh and C. R. Martin, Jr., eds. Current Issuesand Research in Advertising -- Volume 1: Original Research and Theoretical Contributions. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan. 203–226.
French, W. A. and R. Fox (1985), "Segmenting the Senior Citizen Market," The Journal of-Consumer Marketing, 2 (Winter), 61–74.
Forbes (1969), "The Forgotten Generation," January 15, 22–29.
Fox, M. C, A. M. Roscoe, Jr., and A. M. Feigenbaum (1984), "A Longitudinal Analysis of Consumer Behavior in the Elderly Population," in T. C. Kinnear, ed. Advances in Consumer Research: Volume 11. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research. 563–568.
Selb, B. D. (1978), "Exploring the Grey Market Segment," MSU Business Topics, 26 (Spring), 41–46.
Harris, A, J. and J. F. Feinberg (1977), "Television and Aging: Is What You See What You Get," The Gerontologist, 17 (4), 464–468.
Hoy, M. G and R. P. Fisk (1985), "Older Consumers and Services: Implications for Marketers," in R. F. Lusch, et al., eds. AMA Educators’ Conference Proceedings. Chicago: American Marketing Association. 50–55.
King, R. H., B. J. Dunlap, and G. S. Bagley (1982), "Segmenting the Elderly Market: Back to Demographics?" in D. R. Corrigan, et al., eds. 1982 Proceedings, Southwestern Marketing Association, 66–69.
Linden, F. (1986), "The $800 Billion Market," American Demograhics, 8 (February), 4
Lumpkin, J. R. (1985), "Shopping Orientation Segmentation of the Elderly Consumer," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 13 (Spring), 271–289.
Marketing News (1982), "Research Suggests Nine Rules for Advertising to the Elderly," April 16, 1 S 9.
Martin, C. R., Jr. (1976), "A Transgeneid-tional Comparison: The Elderly Fashion Consumer," in B. B. Anderson, ed. Advances in Consumer Research: Volume 3. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research. 453–456.
Media Decisions (1973), "Don’t Write Off the Senior Citizen Market," 8 (July), 64–67 & 112–116.
Merrill, J. R. and W. A. Weeks (1983), "Predieting and Identifying Benefit Segments in the Elderly Market," in P. E. Murphy et al., eds. AMA Educators’ Conference Proceedings. Chicago: American Marketing Association. 399 403.
Neugarten, B. L. (1974), "Age Groups in American Society and the Rise of the Young-Old," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Political Cons equences of Aging, 415 (September), 187–198.
Rahtz, D. R., M. J. Sirgy, and H. L. Meadow (forthcoming), "Elderly Life Satisfaction and Television Viewership: An Exploratory Study," in M. J. Houston, ed. Advances-in Consumer Research: Volume 13.
Reinecke, J. (1964), "The ‘Older’ Market --Fact or Fiction?" Journal of Marketing, 28 (January), 60–64.
Richards, M. L. (1981), "The Clothing Preferences and Problems of Elderly Female Consumers," The Gerontologist, 21 (3), 363–367.
Samli, A. C. (1967), "The Elusive Senior Citizen Market," Business and Economic Dimensions, 3 (November), 7–16.
Schewe, C. D. (1984), "Buying and Consuming Behavior of the Elderly: Findings from Behavioral Research," in T. C. Kinnear, ed. Advances in Consumer Research: Volume 11. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research. 558–562.
Tongren, H. N. (1975), "Consumer Credit and the Over-65 Age Group," Journal of Consumer-Credit Management, 5 (Spring), 117"123.
Towle, J. G. and C. R. Martin (1976), "The Elderly Consumer: One Segment of Many?" in B. B. Anderson, ed. Advances in Consumer Research: Volume 3. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research. 463–468.
Visvabharathy, G. and D. R. Rink (1985), "The Elderly: Still the ’Invisible and Forgotten’ Market Segment," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 13 (Fall), 81–100.
Zbytniewski, J-A (1979), "The Older Shopper: Over 65 and Overlooked," Progressive Grocer, 58 (November), 109–111.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Academy of Marketing Science
About this paper
Cite this paper
Meadow, H.L. (2015). Problems Associated with Treating the Elderly as a Homogeneous Market. In: King, R. (eds) Minority Marketing: Issues and Prospects. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17392-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17392-4_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17391-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17392-4
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)