There have been many pleas in recent years to address the needs of the 'grey market', but Dick Stroud has provided the most thorough and comprehensive analysis of this market published to date. If this book does not generate a changed attitude by marketers (and others in economic and political circles) towards this age group, then I fear that nothing will."
Peter Mouncey, Director of Research, Institute of Direct Marketing
Chapter 6 : The strange world of segmentation
Every marketing textbook has as at least one chapter dedicated to the science; some might say art, of market segmentation. Rarely does the discussion of segmentation explore how it is applied to older people and unfortunately when it does, many of the conclusions reached are of dubious value.
All segmentation methodologies are built around a few basic assumptions. If these are wrong, or questionable, then all of the charts, tables and diagrams constructed around them are not worth a jot.
This chapter discusses the core assumptions upon which the main segmentation models are based and judges their worth as techniques for understanding the 50 plus market. The chapter comes to startling conclusions about the value of age as a method of segmentation.
