Move Over Boomers, Y Has Come of Age. This article is interesting. While it is written from the perspective of the travel industry it nevertheless raises an important question - is the buying power of the Boomer's (today's biggest and wealthiest generation) overrated?
The article cites new research from PhoCusWright's Consumer Travel Report that shows the strategy of marketer's to aggressively go after the Boomer market may not live up to expectations.
Fact is, baby boomers between the ages of 45-54 spent the least of any age group per household on travel, and are the most likely to reduce their travel spending in 2009. With children in college, devalued homes and ravaged investment portfolios this age group has been among the hardest hit by recent economic struggles.
The author concludes: "While boomers still represent a critically important consumer group, the permanence of their risk-taking and resulting financial scars will change the way this generation spends money for a long time, if not forever. Marketers should seriously rethink boomers' status as the golden target group, at least for the near term".
Compare this to Gen X and Gen Y. The author writes "thirty-two percent of 25-34 year olds (the group that spent the most on travel in 2008) plan on spending more in 2009. This group is less likely to be burdened by high-fixed expenses and has likely not suffered significant investment loss. They also have plenty of time to save up for retirement, so they are not afraid to reach into their wallets. And fortunately for the industry, travel is high on their to-do list".
Again, this article was written for the travel industry. But could it have been written for any industry?
I've posted several blogs about the danger of lumping all "boomers" together. In fact, "boomers" is a terrible marketing term because it tends to force people into thinking of this generation as a single purchasing entity.
When I shared this article with marketing demographic guru John Sumser he had this to say and I believe John is exactly right:
'This [article] makes an important point. I think, however, that focusing to hard on these giant demographic ideas causes one to miss the mark(et). The generational differences are a way of talking about a big change in consumer behavior. When you act as if there are impermeable walls between the genrations you don't notice important trends like...
[Person A] and I are roughly 10 or 12 years apart in age. Our children are 25 years apart. [Person A] is nearly my generation, our children inhabit grossly different universes. The language of generational difference is useful to a point, a starting point. Once the argument gets as polarized as it currently is, it stops being useful and it's time to move on.
If the people entering their 6os are your target market, you might be better served looking for regional similarities in that age group and its consumption habits......".
I agree.
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