The overlooked online demographic: older consumers

Today's New York Times has some data that many online marketers will find remarkable: consumers over 55 are buying more online than their younger counterparts.

"This group has been kind of overlooked until now," said Heather Dougherty, an analyst with Nielsen/NetRatings, an online consultancy. "But the older boomers are far from newbies at this point. We're not talking about people who are 100 years old and haven't seen a computer."

Ms. Dougherty said a recent Nielsen survey found that 27.4 million people age 55 and older bought something online in the last six months, compared with about 26 million a year ago. By contrast, the number of adults who bought something online in the last year actually dropped, to 107.4 million from 112 million.

Given the increasing role that online advertising and activities are playing in marketing budgets (something we'll have more on later in the week when we release the Q2 Blackfriars Marketing Index and report), every marketer should take a look at this data. Older consumers may be harder to serve, but they represent 55% of all consumer spending in the US. Marketers that address their needs and interests stand to reap big rewards.

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