Retailers target senior citizens' increased buying power
01.01.70
Recently, Harriet Celano of North Kansas City enjoyed dinner in a restaurant so much that she was still talking about it.</p><p> But it wasn’t the meal that made the experience memorable. It was the menu.</p><p> “It was in large print,” Celano said, so she could read it with a little help from the magnifier she carries with her.</p><p> Celano is 77 and visually impaired. Usually, even with her magnifier, she has to ask others to read the menu for her when she eats out with family and friends. </p><p>Celano wonders why more restaurants don’t offer large-print menus, like the one she found so helpful at a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant in Kansas City.</p><p>“It wouldn’t cost a lot to print them,” she said, “and a restaurant wouldn’t need a lot of them at one time.”</p><p> Older adults might not see as well as they used to, or bend as low and reach as high, but they’re still shopping and spending money. A lot of it.</p><p> Baby boomers alone shell out an average $2 trillion annually, according to an AARP report. Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, represent nearly a third of the population, and their influence and affluence are projected to remain strong for many years.</p><p> “Even though the economy is down, boomers have more disposable income than younger shoppers,” said Laci Cornelison, a research assistant with the Center on Aging at Kansas State University in Manhattan. </p><p> Boomers have more money to spend because many no longer have children’s college expenses and they may have inheritances. </p><p>And the population older than 50 is growing, along with its capacity to spend. By 2030, older adults will make up 20 percent of the population, the highest ratio in history, Cornelison said.</p><p> Currently, they have half of all discretionary income, according to Elders in Action, a nonprofit agency in Portland, Ore., that helps businesses serve older customers. </p><p> “They’re worth caring about,” said Leslie Foren, director of operations.</p><p> Caring about the comfort and convenience of senior customers is in a store’s best interest.</p><p> “I go to the same places — the bank, the grocery store, the drugstore — where I can drive right up, park and go right in,” said Patty Stone, 70, of Gladstone.</p><p> Not having to go more than 30 footsteps to the front door is part of what brings her back to the same businesses time and again. Rheumatoid arthritis makes walking distances “very taxing” for her, and “I avoid big places with off-street parking,” Stone said.</p><p><span class="subhead">Courteous, convenient</span></p><p> To help businesses understand the needs of senior shoppers, Elders in Action developed an Elder Friendly Business Certification Program in 1993. The agency certified 12 businesses then, and now it has 270 certified in four Oregon counties. The elder-friendly certification program also has been sold to agencies in 12 states — including Kansas — and Australia.</p><p>The program evaluates businesses for their access by phone and by foot, for their physical layout, for their customer service and for their websites. Evaluators are volunteers at least 60 years old who work as secret shoppers to assess businesses that have requested certification.</p><p> Businesses pay for the evaluations and for re-inspections and renewals of the certificate every two years.</p><p> “They rate you on how you answer the phone, how you talk to people, your patience level,” said Kathie Hellwege, owner of Klein Jewelers, one of the first businesses certified as elder-friendly in Portland.</p><p> Earning the certification provides reassurance to older shoppers.</p><p> “It means that you can feel comfortable coming in here,” Hellwege said. </p><p> In Kansas, the East Central Kansas Area Agency on Aging, based in Ottawa, serves six counties and has certified businesses in three: Miami, Franklin and Coffey.</p><p> “Customers 50 and over are an important part of our business,” said Bob Nauman, president of First National Bank of Louisburg.</p><p> That age group makes up 60 to 65 percent of the bank’s customer base. The bank first earned the Elder Friendly Business certificate in 2009 when it applied for certification through the Kansas agency.</p><p> The bank has a ramp for wheelchair access, no steps, and flat and open space inside. A courtesy desk within 15 feet of the front door and other amenities also make banking there easy.</p><p> What seniors really like, Nauman said, is something the bank doesn’t have — an automated phone system.</p><p> “When they call, they get an individual,” he said. “We’ve never had an automated phone system, and for the elderly that is huge.”</p><p>Debby Lyder, coordinator of the Elder Friendly Business Certification Program at the Kansas agency, said: “We believe that it’s important for businesses to know what affects seniors when they go out into the community.”</p><p> Seniors will call her, Lyder said, about buildings they have trouble entering because they are alone, or they’re using a walker or a wheelchair, or the handicap parking stall is too far from the door, or the door is too heavy to open.</p><p> “We need to be aware of what boundaries seniors can have,” she said.</p><p><span class="subhead">Fear of falling</span></p><p> Sometimes shopping for seniors is not only inconvenient but frightening.</p><p> Twice in the last three years, Gayle Ambrose’s mother has been knocked to the floor while shopping. Ambrose is a licensed physical therapist and co-chairwoman of the Senior Falls Prevention Coalition of Clay and Platte Counties. Her mother is 87.</p><p> In 2008, her mother fell when she was bumped by another shopper rushing through the store.</p><p> “She was standing still and fell and hurt her arm,” Ambrose recalled.</p><p> The fall also shook her self-confidence.</p><p> She regained enough courage to venture out in 2010 to a “big box” membership discount store with Ambrose and her other daughter. Her mother was holding on to a shopping cart and had stopped to look at a display in the center aisle.</p><p> Suddenly, another shopper pushing a cart in a hurry ran into her and knocked her unconscious. She lost a pint of blood, had five stitches in her head and spent the night in a hospital.</p><p> Ambrose said part of the problem was that merchandise was stacked so high that the other shopper could not see around it, although his haste and inattention played a large part in causing the accident.</p><p> “Now she avoids larger stores,” Ambrose said.</p><p> Her caution is understandable.</p><p> “Falls are the leading cause of nursing home admissions,” said Tina Uridge, executive director of Clay County Senior Services.</p><p><span class="subhead">Reducing the risks</span></p><p> Hurried, impatient shoppers and those who steer shopping carts like miniature race cars may be beyond a store’s control. But there are many other measures retailers can take to make shopping safe and easy for older adults.</p><p> Because vision problems sometimes make it hard for seniors to tell whether floors are waxed and shiny or wet and slippery, some drugstore chains have started installing carpeting throughout, said Cornelison of the K-State Center on Aging.</p><p> “They’ve also started hanging magnifying glasses near pharmacies and at other strategic places to help older adults read small print,” she said.</p><p> Lighting is another consideration — bright enough but not so much that glare is a problem.</p><p> “Automatic doors are really helpful, especially for those using canes or walkers,” Cornelison said.</p><p> For older shoppers, service is important too, said Jim Courtney, executive director of the Mr. Goodcents Foundation in De Soto, a nonprofit agency dedicated to improving how seniors live and age.</p><p> Home delivery of prescriptions is a senior-friendly service that Hy-Vee supermarkets offer, Courtney said. The stores also have dietitians who make presentations on healthy eating and food choices for individuals with high blood pressure, diabetes or other conditions that often come with age.</p><p> Personal assistance — patience at the checkout, help finding products, getting them down from top shelves or with carryout — makes shopping easier for seniors.</p><p><span class="subhead">Ringing up repeat sales</span></p><p> Clerks willing to listen, be supportive and help seniors will turn casual shoppers into loyal customers, Courtney said.</p><p> Residents of Our Lady of Mercy Country Home in Liberty have favorite clerks when they go on their weekly shopping trips. </p><p> “If a resident needs assistance at Walmart, they will have an associate walk around with the resident, go all the way through the store and even put items on the belt at the checkout,” said Sandy Spear, activities director.</p><p> That kind of courtesy has won over many residents who will return to the same store every week and ask for an associate by name, Spear said..</p><p> Activities directors such as Spear at retirement communities and assisted living centers know where seniors like to spend their time and their money.</p><p>“Early-bird dining,” perhaps the original senior perk, is so widespread it might be taken for granted. But adding accessibility and extra service can still make it effective. </p><p>For example, residents of The Gardens at Barry Road, an assisted living facility in Kansas City, bring a lot of early dinner business to Cascone’s Italian Restaurant.</p><p> The Northland restaurant serves nine entrees from 3 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The entrees cost $9.99 and are a complete meal, including spumoni for dessert.</p><p> “The dinners are more at a lunch price,” said Jodi Kersten, activities director. “And they are able to put tables together for all of us to eat at one big table.”</p><p>When they go shopping, Gardens residents like the service and the Wednesday sales at Hillcrest Thrift Shop in Kansas City. The store is operated by Hillcrest Transitional Housing of Platte County.</p><p>Clothing and general merchandise are sold at 50 percent off to shoppers age 55 and older every other Wednesday. Volunteers at the store help the residents and at times during the year, Hillcrest volunteers even take store merchandise to the assisted living facility to sell, Kersten said.</p><p>Macy’s at Metro North Shopping Center in Kansas City is a shopping destination for residents of the retirement community Kendallwood Hills Estates, said Abigail Lancaster, community education coordinator.</p><p> “They like the wide aisles, good-sized fitting rooms that are easy to get in and out, and there’s seating available,” Lancaster said.</p><p> The shoe department is right by the front door, which makes it handy for seniors to sit while they wait for others to finish shopping.</p><p> Places to sit, personal assistance, safe floors, doors that open automatically and other senior-friendly measures make shopping safe, comfortable and convenient for everyone.</p><p> “What we do right for seniors benefits all of us,” Courtney said.
Source: Kansas City Star
RSS Feed
