Jeff Bezos has built Amazon, the web’s premier online retailer. He’s recovered Apollo engines from the bottom of the ocean. He’s building a spaceship. And now, because he’s a man who loves a challenge, he’s setting up an on-line store for seniors.
The problem with this business model should be obvious:
- Current Amazon customers are on their computers all the time, so it’s easy to buy something on-line when the urge arises. Also, they think going to the mall is an inconvenience.
- Old people are at the mall all the time (it’s where they exercise), so it’s easy to buy something off-line when the urge arises. Also, they think using the computer is an inconvenience.
Undaunted, Bezos has opened the lyrically named 50+ Active and Healthy Living Store. As should be obvious, this is not a place for satisfying your whiskey and tobacco needs. Somewhat surprisingly, given the name, you will also find no hiking boots, water skis, or biking gloves. Instead, there are vitamins, blood pressure monitors, hair removal products, and incontinence products. And because this is Amazon, travel books and Kindle readers.
People who are actually active and healthy aren’t excluded from the site; there just isn’t much for them other than a selection of beauty products. And yoga pants. And pilates gear.
There’s also a section labeled “Resource Center” that contains four—count ‘em, four—articles copied from Grandparents.com but with a less appealing layout. Subjects are predictable: “Foods That Boost Brain Power,” “10 Easy, Healthy Tips for Losing Weight,” “Euthanizing Your Aging Pet (or Spouse).”
(To be completely factual, only two of those are actually on the site.)
As a favor to Amazon, we aren’t going to talk about the special coupon section that lets seniors virtually snip a coupon for presentation at checkout. Because seniors love their coupons.
In all, this is a giant, on-line repository of mixed messages. We think you’re an important consumer group, but we’re not going to work very hard at tailoring a site to your actual interests and needs. We’re going to address you as a healthy adult, but we’re going to show you products for people who are not so healthy.
The oddest thing about this is that people who really understand the Internet—and that certainly includes the folks at Amazon—recognize that it allows for very targeted messaging. (Look just once for prostate-friendly bike seats and for the next two weeks you’ll see ads for them on every other site you visit.) It would be easy for these guys to build a store for truly active and healthy seniors. But they didn’t.
Photo: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at the 2005 O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, California, by James Duncan Davidson via Wikimedia Commons.
