Senior' motivations and barriers when purchasing products and services online

Abstract

Nowadays the senior customers’ population (people aged 65 and more) represent 8,1% of the worldwide population and this figure will increase by 255%, from 589 million in 2014 to 1.5 billion in 2050 (representing 16,3% of world population). The trend of population ageing poses new challenges for global businesses because senior customers begin to have more influence in industrialised economies. The senior customer’s segment is more loyal, wealthier and spends a higher proportion of its total expenditure on services than the global population. However, all major players on the market do not understand the senior market because they do not have a clear understanding of consumer decision-making and also have a limited comprehension of the way to serve older consumers online. The goal of this dissertation is to interview 19 people aged 65 years old and more about their motivations and barriers when purchasing on the Internet. We have also focused our research on this goal to purchase on online pharmacy websites. Finally, this research also aims to have a first approach on which lever is efficient to sell services more effectively to senior customers. After the first part dedicated to the literature review, we will present the research design with the research methodology. Afterwards, we will present the results of the study. Chapter 5 will discuss the findings. Last but not least, we will provide a theoretical conclusion, including the managerial implications, and finally we will expose the limitations of this piece of research, and offer suggestions for further research. The results show that senior customers have cited 19 times a willingness to purchase on the Internet. The most cited motivation was “convenience”, secondly “product available only on the Internet” and thirdly “security”. Senior customers have also cited 22 times a barrier. The most cited barrier was “cannot see the product”, secondly “method of payment” and thirdly “distortion of the reality”.