Senior Packaging Trends
by Joy Ward, MediaCross Advertising
August 2001
America's population of over 55-year-olds is getting bigger and becoming a larger part of almost every consumer market. To face the challenges and opportunities of this booming and diverse market, packagers need to know more about these older, and sometimes wiser, consumers.
Aging population on the rise
Consumers are living 30 years longer than just a century ago and the over 65-year-old group is growing three times faster than the general population. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, by 2030, there will be about 70 million people 65 and over and they will represent 20% of the population. In 1998, people 65 and over represented only 13% of the American population. Gail Fudemberg, president of GRF Marketing Ltd., a market research company known for their extensive research on seniors, offers these figures, "One in five Americans will be elderly by 2030. By the year 2050, 78.9 million Americans will be elderly."
Even the oldest of the old, those over 80-years-old, are increasing at a rate never before seen. As Greg Erickson, the former director of communications for the Institute of Packaging Professionals, editor-in-chief of Packaging Magazine and publisher of the international newsletter Shelf Presence, states, "Everybody knows or should know our population is getting older. The fastest growing part of the population are the 80-year-olds and above."
In an article published in 2000, Fudemberg bears this out. "This year there are 4.3 million in the 85+ category, with 18.2 million expected by the year 2050."
As the numbers climb, so does the influence of America's oldest consumers. They are demanding more of packagers and marketers in the way of easier closures, different package sizes and even innovative labeling (see "Seniors may be older but they're not old").
Diverse, segmented market
The senior market is getting more diverse and more segmented. Not all seniors age alike, think alike or buy alike. Fudemberg explains that there are actually three clusters within the senior market. "People aged 55 to 65 are the 'young seniors,' those aged 65 to 75 are considered to be 'middle seniors' and the 75+ group are the 'older seniors.'"
These three groups are often lumped together in marketing studies, but that can prove to be a mistake. The "young seniors" are often active and look younger than their years, while the "older seniors" face numerous health concerns. The "middle" seniors are transitioning between the younger, usually more active senior lives to the older senior lives of decreased health and lessened mobility. Americans are living longer, and for the most part, staying healthier longer. But the inevitable aging does occur.
Marcia Mogelonsky, senior research analyst with the Mintel International Group with a US base in Chicago, says that although American's are living longer, they are often not in good health. "These are America's oldest old. People in this country are living longer than ever before but they are not necessarily living better than before. The oldest old in this country, in general, are elderly, ill and weak."
So from the 60-year-old golf-playing, Arizona-ensconced retiree to the 90-year-old living in assisted living, the needs and wants of seniors are far from monolithic. Seniors, like other consumers, are in flux, moving through retirement and changing health conditions. The only thing that remains the same is seniors' ultimate need for packaging they can open easily and that meets their changing lifestyles.
Review packaging for ease of use and legibility
Although some of the "younger" and "middle" seniors may be very active and need little assistance, many other seniors, especially those over 80, have some physical disability, which limits their ability to interact with packaging. Package providers need to keep these physical demands and limitations in mind when packaging items for seniors.
Ron Canuto, technical representative with VBC Inc., outlines some of the more common infirmities. "Typically seniors have arthritis, which affects their ability to grab a hold and tear a package open, take a closure off, twist and turn. Also, they have failing eyesight so that if there are instructions on how to open a package, they need their reading glasses, or, if you have severe cataracts, you are as good as blind."
Many seniors face these daily difficulties. Current Population Reports' "Americans with Disabilities: 1994-1995" shows that 52.5% of all Americans 65 and over had a disability and 33.4% of Americans over 65 had a severe disability. As might be expected, arthritis leads the lists of disabilities, afflicting almost half of the senior population.
Package designers are constantly pushing to design package solutions to meet various requirements, but sometimes the designs are not quite enough to meet older consumers' needs. Mogelonsky talks about one senior, who although very physically active and youthful, has arthritis in her hands, making it difficult for her to open standard closures. The senior tried to manipulate the new larger ring tab on a can of frozen orange juice, to no avail. "It was useless for her. It made it easier for us to open the orange juice but it was no help to her. Packagers make an effort to make packages ergonomically correct but they're not taking it quite far enough. What is the point of putting a little ring tab on an orange juice container that an arthritic person couldn't put her finger in and pull?"
Mogelonsky explains the physical and psychological challenge the too-small ring tab poses to similar consumers. "Consumers don't necessarily have to have arthritis to have difficulty manipulating things and they don't want anyone to know so they're not going to complain. They're going to take a spoon through the ring and leverage off the top."
Also, as eyes age, seniors perceive colors differently. For example, as Erickson remarks, "As we age our eyesight yellows. Our vision yellows. White looks yellow."
But legibility is also an issue for seniors losing part of their sight. Regulations require the inclusion of more and more type on labels, yet the labels cannot expand to allow the size of the type to increase. More type means smaller point size and a greater chance seniors cannot read the labels.
Fudemberg warns packagers to pay attention to both aspects of the label, color and type, "Certain colors are easier on the eyes for people who are having macular degeneration or glaucoma, anything that comes along with increase in age. Seniors are going to pay attention to the coloring, not only the package itself but also the lettering. So you have to make sure the font size is right, the coloring is right and you don't put one color on top of another."
Seniors need smaller portions
Seniors tend to eat smaller amounts of food, so packagers of all types of foods and beverages need to factor that into packaging equations. Also, many seniors are moving into smaller living quarters, with much more restricted space for food or other items. Small servings may cost more per ounce, but may be the only way seniors can work with physically tighter living situations.
Re-sealable packages are extremely important to seniors with decreased appetites, even if it appears that the re-sealable item initially costs more. As Mogelonsky points out, a single senior living alone cooking soup may weigh the comparative cost of a can of condensed soup with the cost of soup in a re-sealable jar. "It might be a bit more expensive than the can of soup, but if they think about it, they will see that it is actually more economical. They might save on the can but the odds are that the rest of it gets thrown out."
Seniors need new options in packages
From pharmaceuticals to foodstuffs, seniors need new types of packaging and even new products. They need pharmaceutical packaging that helps them deal with an ever-increasing number of medications. "These people take so many medications, its hard to differentiate and hard to store the bottles," Fudemberg notes.
Seniors also need single serve pharmaceutical packages they can take with them on trips. Seniors need closures that do not prevent them from opening their packages. Erickson asks why pharmaceutical packaging does not more effectively address these needs. "The technology exists to put medicinal products in little single serve pouches. Why hasn't that happened? I don't know." He goes on to suggest that, "There are options. When anybody thinks there is one use for a package, say a pouch with liquid aspirin for senior citizens, say to yourself, 'what else can we do with this same package to make it appeal to others."
Seniors are emotionally different from younger consumers
Beyond the physical requirements of packaging for older consumers, there are also emotional differences between seniors and their juniors. According to Fudemberg, seniors react more strongly to emotional stimuli than to rational appeals. "Marketing to the senior is much different than marketing to the teenager or somebody in their 20's, 30's or 40's because older people tend to first react on their emotional response, and then go into their reasoning response. So marketing to the older consumer isn't based as much on the intellect as touting the price or the benefit but more on the emotions and building a relationship. This is because older minds tend to rely more on intuition initially and then on the rational. The marketer has to build a relationship with consumers and get their trust."
Fudemberg also emphasizes that older consumers want to take the time to gather information and not be barraged with it. "Maturing consumers want to pull information, not have it pushed at them. As a result, they are much more geared toward storytelling, and things like that, in terms of marketing. Se we say when selling to the older consumer, 'go with the grain of the brain.'" This means for marketers and packagers that they must, "Take the time to develop the relationship. Know them and what they like, what they don't like. Be an active listener and try to tell them how your product will provide them with a bridge over to getting those experiences they really desire."
Test it out
With such a diverse group of consumers, how are marketers and packagers going to know their products and packages work for the over 55 set? Research, both as the package is being designed and before it ever goes to the shelf. Give older consumers a chance to interact with and comment on packages meant for them. Also, use test subjects throughout the senior age range, from 55 on up. The active 55-year-old may have a great deal more mobility than the basically homebound 85-year-old.
Gail Fudemberg of GRF Marketing, Ltd. puts forward the seniors' case. "Have you ever thought about how difficult packages are to open for the average consumer? Can you imagine if you were 80 with arthritis in your fingers? Packagers have got to be really mindful. It will be very, very important, especially as our population gets older, to test out package designs. Not only would you be testing the package design, ease of opening, but the actual marketing and the reading of it and the color and the size of it and the weight of it and everything about it could be tested out first."
But age affects more than the physical body. Age also changes consumers' emotional needs. "How are you going to reach these people if you don't know what they need? How are you going to know what they need if you don't ask them? And how are you going to produce a product that suits a need if you don't understand the need?" Mogelonsky reminds marketers and packagers alike. "You really have to know what their situation is, not just the physical situation but their psychological situation as well."
Mogelonsky sums up the packagers' challenge when she says, "The senior population is increasing as Baby Boomers become older and more people live longer. There are a lot more seniors to accommodate so it's well worth your while to find a way to make them all happy."
