Do Boomers care more about tech toys than sex?

My friend Lori Bitter, the Founder of Continuum Crew recently released some fascinating research on Boomers and consumer electronics.

Some of the key findings?

Boomer Women are making purchase decisions by themselves.

First, the research confirmed something we know from observing conversations among Boomer Women at VibrantNation.com: a large percentage of Boomer women (almost 75%, and more than any women in other generation) make purchase decisions without first consulting their spouse or partner.

We know that Vibrant Boomer women enjoy a newfound degree of independence. Continuum Crew’s research suggests how much that matters. The more independent these women are, the more money they spend (across all product categories) without consulting their spouse or partner.

This finding means that you can’t expect to reach these women by talking through their husbands. As Lori says, “Ten years ago… we made many assumptions in our targeting about who led the decisions in a household and who influenced decisions, and therefore how to talk with those consumers. In most categories, we were targeting a male head of household with influence from his wife. We have seen a shift as the financial power of Boomer women has grown – they have something their foremothers didn’t have – access to education, opportunities and careers. The balance of household power is shifting and with this survey we wanted to understand if couples are really shopping for big-ticket items together or acting as individual consumers, particularly as electronics have become more personal, and how and what couples will spend individually without consulting their spouse.”

You have to address these Vibrant Women directly – something we’ve been saying for a long time at VibrantNation.com.

Boomer Women may care more about your product than sex

A second unexpected finding in Continuum Crew’s research relates to the relative importance consumers placed on a large number of products and activities.

We have previously disclosed the complex attitudes about sex among Vibrant Women. Their attitudes – maybe even their desire for – other products and services, it turns out, is a lot less complex – a situation rich in opportunity for marketers.

In Continuum Crew’s research, only 17% of Boomer women respondents said that they could not live without sex on a regular basis (compared to 42% of Boomer men). Larger numbers of these same respondents said they could not live without:

• Broadband Internet connection at home (63%)
• Daily cup of coffee or tea (55%)
• Attending church regularly (34%)
• TV in the bedroom (32%)
• A laptop (32%)
• Pizza (29%)
• Digital camera or camcorder (23%)
• Daily newspaper (22%)

Trying to put attitudes about sex into context is complicated, but what really matters about this research is how many categories are vitally important to the lives of Boomer women, including consumer electronics.

Again, as Lori Bitter tells, us this has important implications for marketers:

“While men may be early adopters and have a lot of interest in product features, women are much more likely to care about the product benefits and the way those benefits are conveyed. Women need to understand more explicitly how a technology product will make their life better or easier. The supposition, although it stills warrants further testing, is that once that product becomes integral to their lives, women are more reliant on it and may be more inclined to upgrade or remain loyal. The difference in use and importance of technology in older consumers lives have valuable marketing implications. When coupled with the willingness to make separate purchase decisions this information enables marketers to create a powerful sales model to tap their target consumer.” 

Conclusion

I am pleased to see so much good new research about Baby Boomers, and Boomer women in particular. Vibrant Women are more than willing to help marketers understand what works and matters to them. Let’s just hope that marketers care about this information more than…Boomer women care about sex.