First, a good target market would be the “Baby Boomer” generation. This generation’s age demographic falls into the 45-64 year range which makes up about 30% of internet usage in the United States. With the rise of smart phone technology, even the Baby Boomers are catching on to the trend. Roughly about 15% of smart phone users are over 55 years old and with the rise of computer tablets, it provides this generation with an alternative way to access the internet.
This generation has many characteristics that would help eBay to expand their market even more. Since Baby Boomers are independent, eBay would benefit since eBay users are in control of when and what to purchase. Another attractive characteristic of the Baby Boomers is that they tend to be more financially stable than the younger generation. Since they have already established funds for retirement, they have more flexibility with their spending. This group is also more likely to acquire a hobby or sell items they have collected over the years.
Amazon, eBay’s competitor, already targets this generation with their main users ranging in age from 55-64 years old. When looking at Amazon’s segmentation on household income, their focus is on less affluent households compared to eBay’s high affluent families. One area that sets eBay apart from their competitors like Amazon is that eBay doesn’t use brick and motor companies, its products solely come from people from all around the world.
To put their customers at ease while shopping, eBay has established the eBay Buyer Protection which covers the majority of the items on