Determinants considered by Polish seniors when purchasing food and some durable goods

Abstract

The ageing of societies is a commonplace process. It accompanies the development of the world population, although with different intensity. Age structures undergo transformations because of quantitative and qualitative changes affecting the course of demographic processes such as fertility, mortality, and migration, which are explained by general laws formulated by demographic transition theory. Moreover, human life expectancy is extended by continuing socio-economic changes, increasingly fast technological progress, rising living standard of populations, and advances and achievements of medicine. As a result, the number of elderly people grows faster than the number of births. Elderly persons are increasingly often perceived as a desirable and appreciated group of customers. They are important not only as consumers, but also as an object of research. The increasing proportion of elderly consumers and their economic emancipation have a significant effect on both the level and structure of consumption. The aim of the article is to identify the shopping behaviours of elderly people in terms of consumer decision making. A short introduction is followed by part one of the article, which explains the notion of consumer behaviours and presents their major determinants. In part two, after the research methodology and the selection of the sample are discussed, the key factors affecting the purchases of food articles and selected market goods, alternative consumer trends, and places where older persons do their shopping are analysed.