Seniors and E-Commerce: Selling to the Older Shopper

[mandy]

Good article on an often overlooked segment of ecommerce buyers:

But online merchants are wise to look beyond this stereotype. Seniors are a lucrative market that e-tailers can't afford to ignore, notes Jakob Nielsen, a leading Internet usability expert. The reasons are numerous: "The total number of seniors is growing, the percentage of seniors online is growing, and the percentage of online seniors who shop is growing ...

http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/tren...hp/3532196

[misteroriginal]

Great article, Mandy!

Seniors also tend to have troubles with peripheral vision, so centering the content is important.

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=misteroriginal link=topic=367.msg1538#msg1538 date=1126635689]
Seniors also tend to have troubles with peripheral vision, so centering the content is important.
[/quote]

I plead guilty to ignoring the needs of seniors this year.  I've been on a "let's make the page fit the entire width of the screen" binge all year...even converting some formerly centered site designs to full-width  :-[  ...might have to rethink that.

This part is interesting:

If you look at teens or people in their 30's, if they're going to get a computer, they have it by now," Nielsen notes. "But if you look at where the growth is going to come from in the next ten years, it's going to come almost only from adding seniors to the Net population."

[misteroriginal]

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=367.msg1541#msg1541 date=1126636760]
I've been on a "let's make the page fit the entire width of the screen" binge all year...even converting some formerly centered site designs to full-width  :-[  ...might have to rethink that.

[/quote]

Diger & I fight about that ALL THE TIME (along with "Was it worth it to break the scanner?"). I maintain that a business card is 2 x 3, paper (in the US) is 8.5 x 11, and web sites are 750 x whatever because that's the size they need to be. It's almost impossible to make a pretty site stretch or have any design subtlety. They all end up looking like Excel spreadsheets.

Edit to add: And the scans are worth more than the scanner!

[accentnepal]

This is sorta off topic, sorta right on topic. It is from an email going around. Says it is an actual job application that a 75 year old senior citizen submitted to Walmart in Arkansas. He got the job.
   

    NAME: George Martin

    SEX:
    Not lately, but I am looking for the right woman
    (or at least one that will cooperate)

    DESIRED POSITION:
    Company's President or Vice President.
    But seriously, whatever's available. If I was in a position to be
    picky, I wouldn't be applying here in the first place.

    DESIRED SALARY:
    $185,000 a year plus stock options and a
    Michael Ovitz style severance package. If that's not possible, make an
    offer and we can haggle.

    EDUCATION:
    Yes.

    LAST POSITION HELD:
    Target for middle management hostility.

    PREVIOUS SALARY:
    A lot less than I'm worth.

    MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT:
    My incredible collection of
    stolen pens and post-it notes.

    REASON FOR LEAVING:
    It sucked.

    HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK:
    Any.

    PREFERRED HOURS:
    1:30-3:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 

    DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?:
    Yes, but they're better suited to a more intimate environment.

    MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?:
    If I had one, would I be here?

    DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD
    PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 lbs.?:
    Of what?

    DO YOU HAVE A CAR?:
    I think the more appropriate question here would be
    "Do you have a car that runs?"

    HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?:
    I may already be a winner of the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes,
    so they tell me.

    DO YOU SMOKE?:
    On the job - no! On my breaks - yes!

    WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS?:
    Living in the Bahamas with a fabulously wealthy dumb sexy blonde supermodel
    who thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, I'd like to
    be doing that now.


    NEAREST RELATIVE....
    7 miles


    DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO
    THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE?:
    Oh yes, absolutely.
   

[amy]

;D

[misteroriginal]

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=367.msg1541#msg1541 date=1126636760]

I plead guilty to ignoring the needs of seniors this year.    :-[ 
[/quote]

Don't feel too bad, BBH. Hoveround seems to be ignoring seniors too!
http://www.hoveround.com/