Although traditionally ignored by the fashion industry, senior females have purchasing power, report being interested in fashion, and are a growing portion of social media users. The literature to date has not yet unpacked the social media usage of everyday, senior females in the fashion context. Data were collected via a series of 38 interviews with women aged 50 and older. Findings showed that the majority of the senior females interviewed were following influencers online and these activities were impacting their purchase behaviors. Furthermore, the senior females in the sample had developed their own sense of style from information they gathered online and projected themselves on their social media accounts as if they too were influencers. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study are also discussed.
TopBackground
Women over 50 years of age are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population. This demographic group, represents about $15 trillion in spending power and 27 percent of all consumer spending (McMillen, 2022). Yet despite the size and purchasing power of senior females (i.e., women over 50), the fashion industry has done a poor job of targeting this segment of the population. Historically, there has been a tendency for fashion marketers to ignore senior women and focus on the young (i.e., women under 40). The commonly held belief was that senior women were either more confident with their self-image and appearance and/or no longer cared about their appearance and the opinions of others (Reilly & Barry, 2020). Thus, fashion and apparel companies viewed this group as less important and not a lucrative segment worth targeting. The truth is that senior women are still fashion conscious and care about the opinions of others (McFarlane & Samsioe, 2020).
Until recently senior women have felt ignored by the fashion industry and retailers, despite their financial viability, market size, and expected growth (Wooldridge & Kuntze, 2019). However, the ideal of youth that has dominated the fashion industry for years is beginning to change (Borland & Akram, 2007). Senior females are starting to emerge on the covers of magazines, being featured in major advertising campaigns, walking the catwalk, and signing with major modeling agencies (do Prado Lima, 2020).
Authors of the popular press are asserting that the embracing of senior females by fashion marketers is coming from an interesting source, social media. Simply put, the over 50 social media influencer is beginning to change women’s and society’s perceptions of age and is influencing the purchase decisions of women in this demographic group (McFarlane & Samsioe, 2020). For example, do Prado Lima (2020) stated that Maye Musk’s large social media following was one factor that her current modeling agency used in deciding to sign with her. The agency recognized that Maye Musk, with her 684,000 Instagram followers, was influencing the fashion consumer behaviors of senior females. Furthermore, beyond Maye Musk, there is a growing presence of senior females who have become social media influencers with significant audiences and most of these accounts focus on fashion as a common theme to their posts (McFarlane & Samsioe, 2020; Miranda et al., 2022; Stephani, 2022).
The literature is starting to revisit the phenomenon of senior females in fashion, but studies to date have focused primarily on the perspective of influencers themselves. The literature has not yet looked at the audience for these social media sites and posts. The present study sought to examine the wider perspective of the everyday senior female, who is not a social media influencer, but is using social media and interested in fashion. Furthermore, the study also sought to unpack how the everyday senior female’s social media usage is influencing her fashion decision making and consumer behaviors.
Thus, the purpose of this paper was to examine the social media usage and consumer behaviors of senior females in the context of fashion. Toward that end, the specific research questions for the study were as follows: 1) What is the social media usage behaviors of senior females and do these behaviors impact purchasing in the fashion context? 2) What is the consumer behaviors of senior females with respect to following social media influencers and being impacted by influencer marketing in fashion? 3) Do family and friends also play a role in influencing the online consumer behaviors of senior females in the fashion context? 4) And, how do senior females project themselves online with respect to their fashion-related consumer behaviors? Below is the literature review, methodology, findings and discussion.