Yes! Yes! Yes! I do want to get rid of my second home, my Range Rover, all the trappings of my super rich life. Oh, wait a minute … I don’t have any of those things. But still the recent Harvard Business Online posting by John Quelch makes a point. There’s a new consumer out there he terms the middle-aged Simplifier. She (and he does say she) is ready to toss out the tangible conspicuous consumption lifestyle and embrace the ephemeral and experiential.
For the rest of today’s blog, continue at the Boomer Blog
Quelch lists four characteristics:
• They have more than they need and want to simplify
• They want to collect experiences rather than stuff
• Their stuff doesn’t really define them
• They’re really rich and don’t need to show it
The first three out of the four are the characteristics Carol Orsborn and I use to describe the “actualized” boomer. You can read more in Chapter 4 of her book Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer: The Baby Boomer Woman, accessed from this blog’s home page. It’s similar but different in that it’s not age specific. You can be actualized or “simplify” at any age. It depends on your stage of adult development and the personal experiences that got you there.
Finally, Quelch makes a great point about marketing to the super rich who “value quality over quantity.” Their increasing reluctance to consume means marketers will need to focus their efforts on emerging markets where consumerism is still king, Quelch says. I say it also provides tremendous opportunities here at home. Check out the 1-800-GOT-JUNK web site for franchising.
Eileen Marcus