Targeting senior consumers - How to market financial services to seniors

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 6

• What is this report about? 6
• Who is the target reader? 6
• How to use this report 7

CHAPTER 2 BEING OVER 50 8

• 50 and beyond 8
• Life changing events after 50 9
• Being over 50 is changing 12

CHAPTER 3 SEGMENTING THE OVER 50's 20

• Size and growth 20
• Income and wealth 22
• Age 25
• Lifestyle 26
• Product opportunities 30

CHAPTER 4 COMMUNICATING WITH OVER 50's 32

• Avoiding marketing myths 33
• Showing seniors with pride 36
• Channels of communication 38

CHAPTER 5 ACTION POINTS 41

• Monitor your senior customer base 41
• Add lifestyle insight to your segmentation 41
• Study period effects and confirm them with primary research 42
• Set up subsegmented flexible products for senior segments 42
• Lending to seniors 43
• Start a focus group of senior customers 43

CHAPTER 6 APPENDIX 44

• Further reading 44
• Do you need further information? 45
  • Datamonitor financial services consulting 45
• FS writing team 46
• List of Tables
  • Table 1: Mega-lifestage durations 8
  • Table 2: Proportion of the population having contracted personal loans, credits or mortgages in the EU (%), by age 2000 10
  • Table 3: Senior consumers in employment (millions), 1997-07 13
  • Table 4: Trend in mean age of women at birth of first child, by country 1975, 2005 16
  • Table 5: European over 50s living alone (% and millions), 1995-2025 17
  • Table 6: Europeans participating in various activities in a typical week, by age (%), 2002 18
  • Table 7: A snapshot of European Seniors by country (millions), 1997-07 21
  • Table 8: European life expectancy forecasts by country (5 year averages), 1995-2000 and 2020-2025 21
  • Table 9: Distribution of mean disposable per capita income by age, 1997-07 22
  • Table 10: Distribution of mean disposable per capita income by age, 1997-07 (ctd.) 23
  • Table 11: Distribution of population by income group by age and country, (%) 2002 24
  • Table 12: Important values, behaviors and attitudes associated with the period effect 29
  • Table 13: An analysis of product categories featuring 50-plus models in advertisements 36
  • Table 14: Industry perceptions of how effective different media channels are in communicating with Seniors, 2003 39
• List of Figures
  • Figure 1: Young Adults�Efinancial and residential reliance on parents 15
  • Figure 2: Youthful seniors 19
  • Figure 3: Over 50s as a percentage of total population in Europe (%), 2000-2025 20
  • Figure 4: Modeling older consumers 27
  • Figure 5: Hypothetical estimates of percentage of older consumer age group by status and lifestyle grouping 30
  • Figure 6: Self referential creative processes 32