A recent blog titled “Astroturfing? Silly Name, Serious Business”, written by Sydney Ren, a student in Comm 296, just taught me a brand new term. As e-commerce grows bigger and becomes more widely used these days, the risk associated with online shopping is also increasing. It is almost impossible for consumers to be able to identify all those potential traps set by the sellers due to the lack of physical presence and communication channel. Then the question arises: is it really worth it to shop online despite all the lurking dangers that might severely harm the consumers?

Recently when watching TV, I saw the news about the contaminated breast milk that has been selling online. Whoever came up with this idea, even though that his/her original intention might be sincere and kind, the low quality of the product can be really catastrophic. The online reviews certainly do not provide any information regarding the bacteria that might be harmful to babies. People are not capable of knowing the actual quality of the product and how honest these auctioneers are, and the convenience of buying from online sellers just cannot in any way compensate for a baby’s life. For items that are directly linked to people’s health, especially to vulnerable groups such as infants, it is best to consider a safer way of purchasing the needs instead of taking the risk and regretting the decision later in life.

As for sellers, if they want to stay in business and develop a strong brand, the first thing that they need to gain is the trust of the customers. Without that, the business can only go downhill in the dynamic and competitive world today.

A blog posted by the Seth Godin back in 2007, titled “Marketing to Seniors (Open and Closed)”, mainly talked about how the baby boomers, who are commonly considered “open” and easy to be marketed, have now become seniors who are generally viewed as “closed” and thus not easy to be attracted by marketing campaigns. The conventional marketing strategy to focus on young, supposedly adaptable population is now a false move because the seniors today are not the same seniors thirty years ago.

Marketers today recognize the opportunity and the need to capture the interests of this growing population of baby boomers who have both time and money. In other words, they are the ones who have strong buying power in today’s market. Nevertheless, it is definitely much more difficult to induce the 50+ individuals than the younger consumers to purchase an item. The baby boomers are more experienced, consider more issues, know better how to compare the costs and benefits, and thus spend a longer period of time on a purchasing decision.

The challenge for the marketers today is that even though the baby boomers do not have the same experiences and interests as their parents or grandparents who were considered to be the “closed” seniors going back thirty years in time, they are certainly not the same people as they were thirty years ago either. Their minds function differently, and so do their spending habits. Any company that is able to attract this group of people first and hopefully to the point where brand loyalty and trust are developed will certainly be ahead of the game. Marketers should definitely consider targeting and capturing this exploding senior market in the near future if they have not started already!

Sources:

http://www.comingofage.com/coming-of-age/a-55-year-old-woman-is-not-simply-a-30-year-older-version-of-her-25-year-old-self/

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/04/marketing_to_se.html

http://graphicleftovers.com/graphic/buying-power-person-holding-credit-card/