Boomers seen as untapped, accessible market in e-commerce

Boomers' online spending power underutilised in ads.

Baby boomers, often overshadowed by the digital marketing focus on younger demographics, represent a significant, yet underutilised, consumer base in the online marketplace. 

Jo Ling Sun, Senior Trends Analyst at GWI, said that this demographic is increasingly important for brands seeking to tap into a broad, affluent, and tech-savvy market. Despite commanding a considerable portion of consumer wealth, boomers receive a small share of digital advertising efforts. 

"A very small percentage of advertising budgets, especially in digital media, is allocated to ads featuring boomers," Sun noted. 

This oversight occurs despite evidence that baby boomers possess spending power and are diversifying their social media usage beyond traditional platforms like Facebook to embrace video-based apps such as TikTok. 

The rise in social media usage among baby boomers has increased by 10% in the past year alone. Over 87% of APAC baby boomers are now active on social media, with particularly high engagement in Southeast Asian markets such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

Contrary to common stereotypes, boomers exhibit the most positive outlook towards social media among all generations, seeing it as beneficial to society and expressing little concern over their time spent online.

However, the challenge lies in how boomers perceive themselves in advertising. Current ads fail to resonate with older consumers, who feel underrepresented compared to other age groups. 

This misalignment is significant, given that boomers are more likely to pay for access to products or services and purchase items at full price, highlighting their substantial purchasing power. 

"Advertising doesn't land with the 44% of boomers who describe themselves as confident or the over 40% who see themselves as open-minded," Sun pointed out.