Different strokes

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Gold the most preferred investment

: willingness to experiment.

Most brands in our market are new and therefore depend on the experimentative behaviour of consumers to generate trials. Younger people are also less spend thrift;so brands use that characteristic to induce higher usage intensity and to drive psychological obsolescence.

In contrast, the elderly have spent most of their life’s earnings in educating their children and getting them married. They didn’t plan their post retirement life wisely, didn’t have as many investment options in their prime as are available now, and therefore have less of own ‘disposable’ wealth. In addition, seniors have spent their life under a value system of spend-where-you-must-save-whenever-you-can, loyalty, patience and ‘adjustment’ that often makes them less attractive to marketers.

Our newly mushrooming shopping malls and entertainment complexes are naturally designed for the young and the able. Senior citizens dislike loud noise, crowd and unnecessary urgency. Many feel that shopping malls may actually be a health hazard to them during peak hours. This is the reason they prefer going to the local kirana stores instead.

However, while there is no doubt that India is a market of the young, the elderly as a buying, decision-making and influencing segment cannot be ignored. It’s in our culture to listen to our seniors, and no matter how individualistic our young, collectivism still lives in our families.