a) What are the reasons behind the reluctance of Baby Boomers to join the online

revolution?

Baby boomers have historically been late adopters to the world of technology
compared to their younger generation, but their movement into digital life continues
to reduce, according to newly released data. In this report, we take advantage of a
particularly large survey to conduct a unique exploration not only of technology use
between ages 65 or older and the rest of the population, but within the senior
population as well.

Two different groups of baby boomers emerge. The first group (which leans toward
younger, more highly educated, or more affluent seniors) has relatively substantial
technology assets, and also has a positive view toward the benefits of online
platforms. The other (which tends to be older and less affluent, often with significant
challenges with health or disability) is largely disconnected from the world of digital
tools and services, both physically and psychologically.

As the internet plays an increasingly central role in connecting the world of all ages to
news and information, government services, health resources, and opportunities for
social support, these divisions are noteworthyparticularly for the many
organizations and individual caregivers who serve the older adult population. Among
the key findings of this research:

1) Only three out of ten baby boomers now go online

In current situation found for the first time that more than quarters of baby boomers
around the world (defined as those ages 65 or older) were internet users. Today, 35%
of baby boomers report they go online and 40% say they dont have a high-speed
broadband connection at home. In addition, 60% of baby boomers dont have a cell
phone. Baby boomers continue to lag behind younger generation when it comes to
tech adoption. And many baby boomers remain largely unattached from online and
mobile life41% do not use the internet at all, 53% do not have broadband access at
home, and 23% do not use cell phones. Baby boomers face a number of difficulties to
adopting internet revolution.

2) Baby boomers face several unique barriers and challenges when it comes to
adopting new technologies. These include:

Physical challenges to using technology:

Many baby boomers have physical conditions or health issues that make it
difficult to use new internet. Around three in five baby boomers indicate that
they have a physical or health condition that makes reading difficult or
challenging or a disability, handicap, or chronic disease that prevents them
from fully participating in many common daily activities. This group is
significantly less likely than baby boomers who do not face these physical
challenges to go online (40% vs. 60%), to have broadband at home (30% vs.
70%), and to own most major digital devices.

Sceptical attitudes about the benefits of technology:

Baby boomers who do not currently use the internet are divided on the
question of whether that lack of access hurts them or not. Half of these non-
users (49%) agree with the statement that people lacking internet access are
at a real disadvantage because of all the information they might be missing,
with 25% agreeing strongly. But 35% of these older non-internet users
disagree that they are missing out on important informationand 18% of
them strongly disagree.

Difficulties learning to use new technologies:

A significant majority of baby boomers say they need assistance when it
comes to using new digital devices. Just 18% would feel comfortable learning
to use a new technology device such as a smartphone or tablet on their own,
while 77% indicate they would need someone to help walk them through the
process. And among seniors who go online but do not currently use social
networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, 56% would need assistance if
they wanted to use these sites to connect with friends or family members.
b) How can we help them to be more receptive to the idea of E-Commerce?

Defining Baby boomers

We use a simple definition: senior citizens are users aged 65 years or older. We had
no upper end, though the oldest participant in our research was 89 years old. Of
course, this is a simplification. Its not as if people change all their behaviours on their
65th birthday. The human aging process starts when you turn 20; people in their 40s
already have sufficiently reduced eyesight to require somewhat larger font sizes than
eagle-eyed designers in their 20s. In testing middle-aged users, weve found that
between the ages of 25 and 60, people's ability to use websites declines by 0.8% per
year. Thus, in one sense, we need to start thinking about older users problems long
before they turn 60.

On the other hand, 60 are too young to be truly considered senior in other contexts.
For example, in Malaysia, the retirement age is increasing to 60 years to avoid
bankrupting the government-run pension system, which used to start paying out when
people reached 60. Most rich countries have similar funding problems for their
retirement schemes. Because life expectancies (happily) keep rising, it will become
increasingly common for people to work until theyre at least 70. Even in countries
that retain a traditional retirement age of 60, many people dont want to retire this
soon. Older people are healthier than they used to be, and many like to stay active in
the workplace. Given this, usability guidelines for senior users should be considered
when designing ecommerce applications, as many companies will have growing
numbers of employees aged 60 and older.

Why to help baby boomers?

Quite simply there are a lot of them and they have money. Nevertheless, brands focus
on the under 50 age group. Yet almost 50% of 78 million Baby Boomers in the
around the world those born between 1946 and 1964 are quiet affluent, well
educated, potentially comfortable with technology, and willing to try new products.
They were raised in a spending-driven economy, unlike their parents who grew up
during the Depression.
Ways to help them to be more receptive to the idea of E-Commerce:

1) Design Issues: Readability, Click ability

Reduced visual acuity is probably the best-known aging problem, and yet websites
with tiny type are legion. Sites that target seniors should use at least 12-point fonts as
the default. And all sites, whether or not they specifically target seniors, should let
users increase text size as desiredespecially if the sites default is a small font size.
Hypertext links are essential design components; using large text for them is
especially important for two reasons:
To ensure readability
To make them more prominent targets for clicking. Also, you should avoid tightly
clustered links; using white space to separate links decreases erroneous clicks and
increases the speed at which users hit the correct link. This rule also applies to
command buttons and other interaction objects, all of which should be reasonably
large to facilitate easy clicking.

Pull-down menus, hierarchically walking menus, and other moving interface elements
are problematic for seniors who are not always steady with the mouse. Better to use
static user interface widgets and designs that dont require pixel-perfect pointing.

2) Behavioural Issues: Hesitation, Discouragement

In our studies, 45% of baby boomers showed behaviours that indicated they were
uncomfortable trying new things or hesitant to explore. For example, when they failed
in their first attempt at a task, some baby boomers were hesitant to try alternate paths.
One senior, while looking for the average temperature for Malaysia in January, went
to his favourite weather website. When he couldnt find the information, he didnt
want to go to a different website. Instead, he gave up.

The younger generation users in our control group were twice as likely as older users
to try more and different methodssuch as site search, contextual help, or online
chatto find the answers to their questions or to complete tasks. Conversely, baby
boomers were almost twice as likely to give up on a task. Among all users who quit a
task without completing it, seniors gave up 30 seconds before the younger users did.
When users had problems, baby boomers blamed themselves 90% of the time,
compared to 58% of younger users. As I see it, almost 100% of the blame should fall
on the websites and their designers, because most problems could have been avoided
if theyd paid better attention to the usability guidelines for designing for baby
boomers. Perhaps because of their reduced confidence, baby boomers were much
more likely to turn to web-wide search engines like Google or Bing. These sites are
familiar and welcoming ground, and baby boomers used search engines 51% more
than the younger users to complete tasks.

The other side of the hesitation coin is that seniors are slower and more methodical in
performing tasks. In our studies, 95% of seniors were rated as methodical in their
behaviours: for example, they were likely to think through each step or click and
assess an entire page before moving forward. Only 35% of younger users exhibited
such methodical behaviours. Sadly, the slower and more measured approach to
computers didnt gain seniors better results, as demonstrated by the studys success
scores.

3) Offer Supportive (and Forgiving) Design

When websites violate the guideline to use different colours to clearly distinguish
between visited and unvisited links, baby boomers easily lose track of where theyve
been. The same is true for all age groups: It's confusing when websites change the
standard link colours, and it's particularly confusing when the same colour is used for
all links, regardless of whether youve visited the destination page. Baby boomers,
however, have a harder time remembering which parts of a website theyve visited
and are thus more likely to waste time repeatedly returning to the same place. Baby
boomers also have a harder time using unforgiving search engines and forms. We saw
them thwarted due to simple query typos, and punished for using hyphens or
parentheses in telephone or credit card numbers.

Further, baby boomers often had problems reading error messages, either because the
wording was obscure or imprecise, or the messages placement on the page was easily
overlooked among a profusion of other design elements. When seniors encounter
error handling, simplicity is even more important than usual: focus on the error,
explain it clearly, and make it as easy as possible to fix. Website tasks should adapt to
 seniors and how they prefer to do things as much as possible. After decades of writing
telephone numbers in a certain way, its not a very nice experience to come across a
form that insists on a different format. Baby boomers sometimes have trouble with the
basic mechanics of using computers and the web. For example, 45% of baby boomers
had trouble managing browser tabs and multiple windows. Other baby boomers,
however, were web virtuosos and confidently used advanced features like ctrl-F to
jump to keywords within the current page.

4) Avoid Navigation Changes

All users detest change, but drastic design changes hurt baby boomers the most. Half
of the baby boomers in our study said they keep a list of steps and instructions about
how to use websites they need or often visit. If such a website changes drastically,
these notes might become invalid, and baby boomers could struggle to understand the
new design.

One user went to a redesigned site and eventually abandoned it. She said, I give up.
As I say, I hate it when they change a steady information piece.

Obviously, websites cant always stay the same forever. But its worth trying to
maintain consistency in key task steps for as long as possible. Also, you can reduce
the future need for major website restructuring by conducting extensive early usability
research on workflow steps, information architecture (IA), and other foundational
aspects.

c) What are the businesses that might benefit if more senior citizens embrace E-
Commerce?

Then most beneficial ecommerce business for senior citizens are special health care
online store -care products such as wheel chairs, toilet seat risers and lifesaving tools
are and will remain the product category that is most needed by seniors. Besides that,
demand for simplified technological products, comfortable but tasteful shoes &
clothes, grooming aid, and trustworthy care services also exist.
The challenges that niche players in this sector face are high logistics cost, low
awareness and lack of funds. Its about time investors realize the true potential of
senior citizen ecommerce sector and pump in funds to advertise, promote and back
such beneficial online portals.

Reference:
1) Older Adults and Technology Use | Pew Research Center. 2015. Older Adults and
Technology Use | Pew Research Center. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/03/older-adults-and-technology-use/.
[Accessed 29 June 2015].
2) Ecommerce Merchants Should Not Ignore Older Shoppers | Practical Ecommerce.
2015. Ecommerce Merchants Should Not Ignore Older Shoppers | Practical
Ecommerce. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/61984-Ecommerce-Merchants-
Should-Not-Ignore-Older-Shoppers. [Accessed 29 June 2015].
3) Usability for Senior Citizens. 2015. Usability for Senior Citizens. [ONLINE]
Available at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-for-senior-citizens/.
[Accessed 29 June 2015].