Mobility as an influence on retail patronage behavior of the elderly: Testing conventional wisdom

While the marketplace potential of the elderly segment is tremendous, research with regard to what influences the elderly’s patronage behavior has, to date, been inconclusive. This article attempts to determine the effect lack of transportation mobility has on various patronage behaviors. The research reported here is based on a large national smaple of the elderly and incorporates the factors suggested by previous research. The study shows mobility is not a significant influence on the type of retail store frequented, but can influence switching patronage between stores of a given type. Additionally, it was found that mobility is related to the elderly’s psychographic profiles, convenience needs, and information source usage.

[1]  William D. Perreault,et al.  Alternative approaches for interpretation of multiple discriminant analysis in marketing research , 1979 .

[2]  Howard G. Schutz,et al.  Lifestyles and Consumer Behavior of Older Americans. , 1979 .

[3]  Fred E. Waddell.  Consumer Research and Programs for the Elderly—The Forgotten Dimension , 1975 .

[4]  W. G. Bell,et al.  An overview of public transportation and the elderly: new directions for social policy. , 1974, The Gerontologist.

[5]  S. Golant.  Location and environment of elderly population , 1979 .

[6]  J. B. Mason,et al.  An Exploratory Note on the Shopping Behavior of the Low Income Senior Citizen , 1974 .

[7]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis , 1972 .

[8]  Allan Cb.  Measuring mature markets. , 1981 .

[9]  Warren A. French,et al.  SEGMENTING THE SENIOR CITIZEN MARKET , 1985 .

[10]  G. Rowles.  Prisoners Of Space?: Exploring The Geographical Experience Of Older People , 1978 .

[11]  John A. Reinecke.  The “Older” Market—Fact or Fiction? , 1964 .

[12]  L. Phillips,et al.  Age Differences in Information Processing: A Perspective on the Aged Consumer , 1977 .

[13]  J. Rotter.  Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. , 1966, Psychological monographs.

[14]  L. Cronbach.  Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests , 1951 .

[15]  Klippel Re,et al.  The Use of Information Sources by the Aged Consumer , 1974 .

[16]  Subhash Sharma,et al.  Consumer Ethnocentrism: Construction and Validation of the CETSCALE: , 1987 .

[17]  P Petre.  Marketers mine for gold in the old. , 1986, Fortune.

[18]  J B Mason,et al.  Profiling the shopping behavior of elderly consumers. , 1978, The Gerontologist.

[19]  William R. Darden,et al.  A Multivariate Analysis of Media Exposure and Vacation Behavior with Life Style Covariates , 1975 .