Pazarlamanın “Gümüş Pazarı” Yaşlı Tüketiciler Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma

Abstract

Abstract Rapidly flowing time, changing/transforming world and developing technology challenge us in the vital struggle of humanity. In every period of life, people try to keep up with this process and have to follow many parameters such as the global world and business disciplines. While doing this, one must also manage the troubles and difficulties brought by periods such as infancy, childhood and old age. The importance and size of this market of elderly consumers, which has become very popular in recent years and defined as the "silver market" of marketing, has accelerated with the aging of the world population. In this study; using a semi-structured interview form; through analogous sampling, the purchasing behaviors of a total of 9 elderly consumers aged 60 and over were examined in depth using descriptive and content analysis methods. In this regard, when the general outcomes of the study are considered in three themes; In terms of their purchasing behavior, they go shopping alone once a week, on weekdays and weekends; It has been observed that they do not consult the social circle when purchasing products/services from markets and neighborhood markets via credit card. Comparisons are made in terms of product/service usage, taking into account quality, price and similar factors; Priority is given to reliable brands for food, cleaning and health. In terms of the pandemic period, it has been determined that hygiene-mask causes changes in the shopping environment and shyness/fear. In summary, this study; it is important in the marketing sector to increase the awareness of older consumers about their daily life purchasing behavior and to raise awareness of this consumer group. In addition, they were asked questions within the scope of in-depth interview technique with the qualitative research method and the answers to these questions were interpreted. Keywords: Older consumers, Consumer behavior, Purchasing behavior, Silver market, Qualitative research