EDITOR’S LETTER
Age Is In The Eye Of…
This issue is all about retail. And one of the big challenges most of you face is addressing the differing eyecare needs and eyewear wants of various age groups.
Down the road, millennials will represent the biggest generation ever, eventually leaving baby boomers in the dust. But, for now, they are still single vision wearers…though great candidates for products like contacts, sunwear, and blue-light lenses.
SHARING THE LIGHT
Turns out that, for the moment at least, they are sharing the limelight with their older counterparts.
How cool that People magazine just named its oldest-ever Most Beautiful Woman of the Year—50-year-old Sandra Bullock. About time the Sandwich Generation got some credit!
And, even more amazing, several fashion brands are selecting some seriously senior spokeswomen. So far in 2015: Fashion house Céline has tapped 80-year-old author Joan Didion; Kate Spade, 93-year-old style icon Iris Apfel; and L’Oréal Professionnel, 65-year-old model/actress Twiggy. Who’d have thought it would suddenly be sexy to be a senior?
SIXTY SOMETHINGS
Why the attention? One reason, as reported in Adweek, is that “people over 60 make up the fastest-growing group of consumers in the world.” According to A.T. Kearney consultants, in 2010 the global 60-plus population was 600 million. By 2050, it will be 2 billion. The article quotes New York Times fashion columnist Vanessa Friedman as saying, “Wealthier older consumers are more likely than young to pay for quality goods. The millennial generation is more challenged in terms of its buying ability.”
“There is,” concludes the article, “a certain economic imperative to chase the mature market.”
{TREND WATCH}
EMPTY-HANDED
This retail issue focuses on all kinds of consumers, including those who take without buying. While theft is a HUGE issue, the biggest one of all is people leaving because your service is subpar.
In fact, of 1,000 consumers recently surveyed by timetrade.com:
75%
would book appointments beforehand if they could
2/3
say on-target recommendations tops their wish list
9 out of 10
leave when they can’t find the right person to help
93%
say they’re “likely to buy” when helped by a savvy associate
WHAT TO DO?
Take this tip from the best: “At Nordstrom,” says one respondent, “you can always book appointments with any associate. And, they call when they find something you would love.”
Stephanie K. De Long
Editorial Director
P.S. To read the Adweek article, go to: http://bit.ly/1EAv2Ug
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