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Pay Attention, “Shop Local” and Amazon

This holiday season, commercials touting “shop local” affected this Grandma.  I went in person to our local Learning Express, the best location to buy Oppenheimer Toy Award Winners.  I took my I phone to compare on line prices at the store, as recommended by all the newspaper articles on holiday shopping.  However, Amazon lived up to its hype by having cheaper prices when I checked.  I still bought local instead.  After all, I want a Learning Express available in my neighborhood.

Everywhere in the news I see Amazon.  I saw a great segment on the television program, Sixty Minutes.  Amazon is trying to woo all of us with cheap prices and fast service.  They are even talking about developing drones to deliver in thirty minutes, due to arrive in about five years.


Cyber Monday was awaited by this Grandma. I had a list. I first went to my favorite on line vendors to comparison shop.


One of the coveted items on my list was 20% off on line at a favorite vendor. Again, I tried local first at a new store I had never purchased from before. I took the time to get in my car, drive to a nearby mall, find a parking spot, and went to the brick and mortar store.  They had the item, but offered only 10% off even after I showed them the 20% off on line! I left and bought the item online. The Amazon CEO was right when he said building loyalty is important.


Of course, I checked www.retailmenot.com to see if there were any additional discounts available. After I hit the Order button I remembered I forgot to check Amazon!  I wondered how, after all the recent news about Amazon, that I could forget.  But, as the CEO of Amazon mentioned, we do not think of Amazon for everything first.  Yet.


No, the discount was not as good on Amazon.  I was fine after a shopping stress moment.  I think that is the point about on line shopping.  It is stress free.  And we do not have to worry about parking and whether an item is in stock.  This Grandma is convinced that the brick and mortar stores are imploding by their conscious choice to carry less stock in stores and offering to send us the item after we order in the store without a shipping cost if it is not in stock.  For that, I can stay home and order on line.  This is happening more often than not.

Remember what   Immersion Active says about “Online Habits of Adults 50+”:


One-third of the 195.3 million internet users in the U.S., adults aged 50+ represent the Web’s largest constituency (Jupiter Research). Two-thirds of Americans 50+ buy from e-retailers online (Pew). We Boomers have the majority of the wealth in America. And what do we spend according to Immersion Active Marketing? Baby Boomers outspend other generations by an estimated $400 billion each year on consumer goods & services (US Government Consumer Expenditure Survey). In 2009, spending by the 116 million U.S. consumers age 50 and older was $2.9 trillion, up 45% in the past 10 years (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Baby Boomers account for nearly $230 billion, or 55%, of consumer packaged goods sales (Nielsen). Boomers outspend younger adults online 2:1 on a per-capita basis (Forrester Research). Americans over 55 spend 50% of all vacation dollars in America (ICSC). 55-64 year old outspend the average consumer in nearly every category, including: food away from home, household furnishings, entertainment, personal care, and gifts (US Government Consumer Expenditure Survey). Women over 50 spend $21 Billion on clothes annually (US Government Consumer Expenditure Survey).


And we share what we learn:

96% of baby boomers participate in word-of-mouth or viral marketing by passing product or

service information on to friends (ThirdAge and JWT Boom).


“Shop Local” and Amazon, pay attention.  If I spend my money, I want to do so with



Joy,


Mema

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