By Rieva Lesonsky
We all know how important demographic marketing is. And by now we’re aware that people (of the same gender) act and buy differently depending on their age. Or do they?
An interesting blog post on MediaPost a few months ago pointed out that “across multiple studies, we’ve seen not just differences, but similarities across women of all generations.”
After further looking into women’s habits and behaviors, they found women across the generations shared many “similarities when it comes to shopping habits and use of social media.” Some highlights:
Women are “heavy users of social media.” Across the generations Facebook is the “great common denominator”; 91 percent of all women visit it once a week. Pinterest (58 percent), Twitter (51 percent) and YouTube (49 percent) are the next most popular, though more Boomer women used Pinterest than the other two social networks.
Despite their generational differences, all the women also had similar purchasing behaviors.
- Price was more important than convenience for all generations.
- All the women shopped online, though more Millennials bought via their smartphones than the Boomers or Gen X. Computers, however, are the most popular way for all generations to shop online. Most online purchases from all three generations were made on computers.
- Women of all ages say reviews on the retailer’s website are their primary influence for making a purchase.
There are some generational differences, mostly centered on communication preferences. For instance, Millennials check email on their phones more often and are more likely to text than the other generations. However, the similarities give business owners a lot to think about and act on when it comes to marketing.
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. Email Rieva at rieva@smallbizdaily.com, follow her on Google+ and Twitter.com/Rieva.
