Question

You just started your first marketing job, and your supervisor wants you to become more knowledgeable of the mature market because she sees this market as a growing opportunity.

Describe the four segments of the mature market that have been identified through gerontographics, including:  

- Healthy Indulgers

- Ailing Outgoers

- Healthy Hermits

-  Frail Recluses

Answer 1

Introduction

Gerontographics is a segmentation approach similar to that of psychographics or lifestyles, focusing exclusively – and in much greater detail – on seniors’ needs, attitudes, lifestyles and behaviours. Propounded by Moschis and colleagues (Moschis & Mathur 1993, Moschis 1996, 2003, Moschis, Lee & Mathur 1997), gerontographics suggests that older adults who experienced similar circumstances in later life (i.e., social, psychological, biophysical, life events and other environmental factors) are likely to exhibit similar patterns of behaviour. Based on a series of studies, gerontographics has identified four segments of the mature audience that differ according to the extent and type of aging they have experienced:

1. Healthy Indulgers
2. Ailing Outgoers
3. Healthy Hermits
4. Frail Recluses

Gerontographics has identified four segments of the mature audience that differ according to the extent and type of aging they have experienced:

1. Healthy indulgers have experienced the fewest negative life events (e.g., retirement, widowhood) and health conditions that exacerbate psychological and social aging. This group appears to focus on enjoying life, with a lifestyle similar to that of younger age groups. Hence it may be described as having a relatively high level of both physical and psychological well-being.
2. Ailing Outgoers have experienced health decline, yet manage to maintain their self-image and a high level of life satisfaction. They tend to accept their age and the difficulties associated with it and exhibit great interest in getting the most out of life. As such, they are seen to exhibit relatively low-level of physical well-being and high-level of psychological well-being.
3. Healthy hermits are relatively healthy people who experienced negative life events that affected their psychological well-being and led to some social withdrawal. Many of them resent the isolation and the social status associated with being old. Thus, they may be described as having relatively high physical well-being but low psychological well-being.
4. Frail recluses are people with chronic health conditions who have also experienced various negative life events. They are mostly in isolation and tend to consider themselves as “old persons”, adjusting their lifestyles to reflect physical decline and changes in social roles. The group thus manifests relatively low physical and psychological well-being alike.

Conclusion

Changes in social, psychological or physical conditions may shift seniors from one segment to another. Many of the frail recluses, for example, may have been healthy indulgers who subsequently went through one of the intermediate stages experienced by healthy hermits and ailing Outgoers. Such shifts are not mandatory, however, and one may remain in the same segment throughout later life. Moreover, although changes may occur over time, they are “relatively age-irrelevant because they may begin at any age in later life, or may never be experienced”