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While grandparents spend a good deal of money on their grandkids, that doesn’t mean they buy nothing for themselves! “They tend to buy automobiles, second homes, and exotic vacations or adventure vacations,” says Awsumb. “Grandparents account for 53 percent of all luxury travel.” Anything that comes under the “travel” header, like rental cars and hotels, also are a good bet. Other important purchases for grandparents are insurance and financial products.
Grandparents are concerned with staying healthy and vital. “Lifestyle and health are important, and an anti-aging attitude is fairly common,” says Allison Bergeron, vice president of sales at Specialists Marketing Services, which manages several grandparents files. This means grandparents are a good market for vitamins, exercise equipment, and other health and fitness-related products.
Reaching the Market
As a market, grandparents do respond well to direct mail, but don’t discount online marketing as an effective way to reach them.
“A significant amount of marketing should be online—more than most marketers realize,” says Michael Heaney, vice president of list brokerage at Specialists Marketing Services. “Grandparents are typically well-educated with respect to knowledge and technology. Grandparents are e-mailing their friends, children and grandchildren at least three to five times a week.”
Since the majority of buying for grandkids (and for their households) is done by women, it’s a good idea to target grandmothers in your marketing. “We have found targeting to women has increased response and improved overall performance,” says Heaney.
When it comes to creating marketing messages for the grandparent market, “I’ve sat through more than 50 focus groups with grandparents, and I learned that they don’t want to be told how to be a good grandparent,” says Goyer. “They’ve already raised a family, so they’re not receptive to that message.” On the other hand, grandparents do respond to messages about enriching their relationships with their grandchildren.
Grandparents are a big, affluent, modern market. Speak to their joy of being grandparents and their interest in healthy, fun living, and your product or service will be a hit.
Linda Formichelli is a freelance writer. She can be reached at linda-eric@lserv.com.
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