Baby Boomers are often treated in marketing conversations as an afterthought, a generation assumed to be less digital, less relevant, and less interesting to study than the younger cohorts coming up behind them. That assumption can lead marketers to overlook valuable customers. Boomers remain an economically significant generation, and understanding how they actually behave as consumers is well worth a marketer’s time.
Who Are Baby Boomers?
Baby Boomers are generally defined as people born between 1946 and 1964, according to Pew Research Center. The name comes from the sharp rise in birth rates that followed the end of the Second World War, which made this one of the largest generational cohorts in modern history. Because of their sheer size, Boomers have shaped consumer markets, media, and popular culture for decades, and they continue to do so as they move into retirement.
Key Consumer Behavior Traits
The following are useful considerations when marketing to Boomers, rather than traits that apply to everyone. Income, health, life stage, and personal preferences also shape purchasing decisions:
- Value for money, not just low price. Boomers are often willing to pay more for quality, reliability, and good service. They’re not necessarily chasing the cheapest option, but they do expect to feel like they got their money’s worth.
- Strong brand loyalty. A Boomer who trusts a brand may prefer to stay with it. A marginal saving may not justify switching if the current option has worked well for years.
- High expectations for customer service. Many Boomers grew up with more personal, face-to-face service models and still expect to be able to reach a real person when something goes wrong, even when shopping online.
- Increasingly comfortable online, but not digital-only. Many Boomers use digital channels for research and shopping; age alone is not a reliable guide to someone’s digital confidence. That said, many still value the option to call, visit a store, or speak to someone directly rather than being pushed entirely into self-service digital channels.
- Significant discretionary spending power. Many Boomers are at or near retirement, are “empty nesters” with grown children who have moved out, or have paid off major debts like a mortgage. This can free up spending on travel, health, hobbies, and leisure, part of the market sometimes referred to as the “silver economy.” However, retirement does not automatically mean more disposable income; some Boomers face tight budgets and ongoing debts.
A Practical Example: AARP
AARP is a useful example of an organization focused on people aged 50 and over, including Boomers as well as younger and older generations. Rather than treating this audience as an afterthought, AARP’s work and member benefits focus on the interests of people aged 50 and over, covering areas like health, financial planning, travel discounts, and advocacy on issues that matter to older Americans.
What makes AARP a good example isn’t just that it targets an older audience. It’s that the organization takes the audience seriously as an active, engaged consumer group with real spending intentions, rather than assuming older consumers are passive or disengaged. That approach, treating Boomers as a valuable and active market rather than a shrinking afterthought, is a useful model for any brand trying to reach this generation well.
Why This Matters for Marketers
There are a few clear implications for marketers who want to reach Boomers effectively.
Trust signals matter enormously. Clear pricing, straightforward guarantees, and visible customer service options can make the difference between a Boomer completing a purchase and abandoning it out of uncertainty. This is especially true online, where the absence of a person to ask questions of can be a real barrier.
Multichannel access is also important. A Boomer might discover a product through a Facebook ad, research it further on a company website, and then still prefer to complete the purchase over the phone or in person. Marketers who assume every touchpoint needs to be a slick, fully automated digital funnel risk losing Boomer customers at the final step.
It’s also worth remembering that Boomers are not a monolithic block. Someone who is 62 and still working full time has quite different needs and habits from someone who is 78 and fully retired. Treating “Boomer” as a single audience without further segmentation can lead to messaging that misses the mark for large parts of the group.
Advantages and Limitations of Targeting Boomers
The advantage of understanding Boomer consumer behavior well is access to a generation with considerable accumulated wealth, high brand loyalty, and a genuine willingness to spend on quality, health, and leisure. This makes them a particularly attractive audience for categories like travel, financial services, healthcare, and home improvement.
The limitation is that some marketing channels and formats simply don’t reach this group as effectively. Pew Research Center’s 2025 U.S. survey shows that older adults use TikTok less than younger adults. These age groups do not match generational boundaries exactly, but the findings reinforce the need to check channel fit. Highly casual, meme-driven content should also be tested with the intended audience rather than assumed to work. There’s also a real risk of stereotyping Boomers as uniformly technologically inept, which is both inaccurate and alienating, since a large share of this generation is confidently online and shopping digitally on a regular basis.
Bringing It Together
Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, remain a large and economically significant generation, even as marketing attention increasingly shifts toward Millennials and Gen Z. Many value quality, service, and trust alongside price, and marketers can appeal to them through brands that treat them as an active, engaged market rather than a group to be quietly phased out of a marketing plan. For categories like travel, healthcare, and financial services in particular, ignoring this generation means ignoring a substantial and loyal source of revenue.
Key Points to Take Away
- Baby Boomers are generally defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, according to Pew Research Center, and are one of the largest generational cohorts in modern history.
- Useful considerations include brand trust, customer service, and value for money. Discretionary spending varies, and retirement does not automatically increase it.
- AARP is a useful example of an organization built around treating Boomers as an active, valuable consumer market rather than a passive or shrinking one.
- Multichannel access matters for this generation. Many Boomers research and shop online but still want the option to call or speak to someone directly.
- Boomers should not be treated as a single, uniform audience. Needs and habits vary considerably between those still working and those fully retired.
Sources
Pew Research Center: “The Oldest Baby Boomers Turn 80 in 2026”
