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Bracing for the Boom - The Emerging Elders Market See how companies are preparing themselves for the baby boomer's boom. As children, young adults and parents, members of the baby boom generation have powered American business, turning everything they embraced – from hula hoops and McDonald's to SUVs – to corporate gold. With boomers now on the cusp of 60, companies are turning to consultants to find out how they can reach this potential mine of revenue. New departments are being created and mergers negotiated on the basis of this demographic trend. Researchers and consultants are predicting the emergence groundbreaking medicines, unconventional retirement lifestyles and new ways of investing savings. Companies are developing low-impact treadmills and active living adult communities with a view to pleasing this vast and demanding market segment. But the experts, who have tracked the habits and preferences of this generation over decades, say that some companies will fail to exploit their opportunities. Anticipating the next move of a trend-setting generation is bound to be a minefield. Those born in the postwar years from 1946 to 1964 are not just the largest generation in America. They also represent the biggest consumer base, wielding the top spending might. This has been demonstrated time and again, as they drove up demand for baby formula, blue jeans and botox. Besides this, many older boomers – not yet retired – have worked their way up to key decision-making corporate positions. They have a personal interest in seeing their contemporaries catered to, and know that they expect to live, work and spend longer than previous generations have done. The total spending power of the boomer population stands at more than $1 trillion a year, says American Demographics. The median household income for boomers is $59,800, according to Yankelovich Partners Inc., a research and consulting firm. Though the stock market's bear phase has left many boomers chastened financially and others question the solvency of Social Security and Medicare – promoting worries that retiring boomers might have more time than money on their hands – the 50-plus group is still a strong and active force economically. Older boomers are part of a larger 50-plus market that controls more than 70 percent of the financial assets in the United States, accounts for 50 percent of discretionary income and consumes 74 percent of prescription drugs, according to Age Wave, a demographic research and consulting group based in California. Marketers predict that as more boomers progress to "empty nests," their consumer culture will thrive. Not hampered by financial burdens of a young family, they will pursue leisure activities and investments with greater freedom. "Not only is there more money – they have more of the money that they earn," at least in the immediate future, says Mark Goldstein, co-founder of Impact Presentations Group, a California consulting outfit that advises businesses on the aging populace and its impact on their markets. While not all boomers are going to retire into the lap of luxury, marketers believe that there's enough of them with money – and the urge to spend – to merit the focus of corporate America. Back To Mature Market News → Go To The GenerationTarget.com Mature Market Bookstore → |
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