'Third Agers' are tech-savvy online shoppers

A joint study by market researchers ThirdAge Inc and JWT Boom has shown that U.S. Third Agers, adults aged 45+, are online and are tech-savvy. Moreover, they are open to online advertising and word of mouth marketing.

The study found that 96 percent of the 1,210 study participants would participate in word-of-mouth or viral marketing by passing on product or service information to friends, 84 percent would share such information with their children, 83 percent with partners and 71 percent with co-workers.

Third Agers like to shop online. Seventy-three percent put shopping as their top online activity, along with email (99 percent), web browsing (95 percent), research/background information (92 percent) and product research before an offline purchase (85 percent).

"The conventional wisdom that Boomers and mid-lifers are set in their purchasing habits and resistant to marketing messages is a very costly myth,” says Sharon Whitely, CEO of ThirdAge. “These generations have grown up in the information age; they will seek facts, data and peer input - and then, they will make up their own minds."

Third Agers are also likely to go online after reading an offline article or seeing an offline ad. Ninety-two percent have read about a website in a print magazine or newspaper article and then visited it online. Likewise, printed ads have steered 89 percent of them online, 65 percent were tempted online by a television ad and 65 percent by radio advertising.

Tags: baby boomers, research, third agers