The following article appeared in Yesterday's New York Times.
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--------December 14, 2003
SENIORITY
The Growing Market for Bigger Buttons
By FRED BROCK
I THOUGHT about Richard Nixon the other day as I was struggling to
twist the "easy open" lid off a jar of olives. I remembered reading in a
book that his prescription containers had tooth marks on the childproof
caps because, in frustration, he had tried to gnaw them off.
I know how he must have felt. I finally used a screwdriver to pry the
vacuum-sealed lid off the olive jar. For a fleeting moment I had
considered breaking the jar in the sink and salvaging what olives I
could (or resorting to a lemon peel for my martini).
The higher point here is that many products, and how they are packaged,
ignore the physical limitations of an aging population. I'm a fairly
healthy specimen; however, I often find myself struggling not only with
lids but a lot of other things, like the thick plastic armor that
encases most small electronic products. It has also taken several months
for my wife and I to master just the basics of the tiny, unclearly
labeled buttons on the remote control for a combination TV-DVD-VCR. I'm
still not sure what "zero return" and "repeat A-B" mean.
Sella Palsson of Salt Lake City was so frustrated looking for products
to help her mother see better that in 1999 she started a business called
SeniorShops to sell products to aid older people in coping with everyday
problems. She has a retail store in Salt Lake City, but 95 percent of
her business comes through the Internet (www.seniorshops.com) or the
telephone (800-894-9549). In the last three years sales have more than
tripled.
Ms. Palsson is among a growing number of entrepreneurs taking advantage
of the apparent unwillingness of many big manufacturers to tailor their
products to accommodate the graying of America.
"Manufacturers that make packaging that is hard to get into are just not
thinking," she said. "The baby boomers are the largest part of the
population and they're getting older and have money to spend."
One of SeniorShops' most popular products is a cordless phone for people
with hearing and vision difficulties. It amplifies a caller's voice and
has large lighted numbers for dialing. It costs $109.95, plus shipping.
Another is a device called a Videolupe for people with macular
degeneration. It can be hooked up to a television so that magnified
images of photographs or printed material can be displayed on the
screen. It's $499.95, plus shipping.
Other popular products include low-cost gadgets for kitchen chores like
opening jars. There are also talking clocks and watches, and even a
talking caller ID device ($36.95) that announces who's calling.
Of course, some of these products are available at big retail stores.
But they are usually not displayed in one place, and finding them can be
a haphazard process.
"What makes companies like us unique is that these products are our sole
focus," said Andrea Tannenbaum, who started Dynamic Living
(www.dynamic-living.com; 888-940-0605) as an Internet-only retailer in
Windsor, Conn., in 1997. Since then it has had yearly sales growth of 30
to 40 percent and has expanded to include catalog sales, which now
account for 30 percent of business.
"We've been increasingly moving to catalog sales because many of our
customers don't have access to the Internet," she said.
One of Dynamic Living's most popular offerings is offset hinges that
allow a door to be opened a couple of inches wider for wheelchairs and
walkers. They cost $24.99 a pair, plus shipping.
Lids Off is another big seller. It's an electric jar opener made by
Black & Decker and priced at $39.99. Demand is so strong that the
product is back-ordered. "I don't think Black & Decker anticipated how
popular Lids Off was going to be," Ms. Tannenbaum said.
She noted that many of these products were not made exclusively for
older people. They could also help those with disabilities or temporary
limitations resulting from an accident or surgery.
She is keenly aware that the baby boomers are a prime target for
businesses like hers. "Older people will often just get by if products
like this aren't put in front of them," she said. "The baby boomers, on
the other hand, will seek out products to help them because they won't
accept limitations as readily as the older generation. But boomers don't
like to think of themselves as old. So we don't use the words
'disability' or 'senior' on our Web site. We just say, here's a
functional problem and here's a solution to that problem."
Connie Hallquist, the owner of an online and catalog store called Gold
Violin (www.goldviolin.com; 877-648-8400) in Charlottesville, Va., says
her Internet sales have increased about 25 percent a year since she
started in 1999. But overall business this year has grown threefold
because of a marketing arrangement with QVC, the television shopping
channel.
ONE of her big sellers is the Secret Agent Walking Stick ($69, plus
shipping), which has a built-in flashlight and pill compartment.
Big-button remote-control devices for televisions are also popular,
along with the Jar Pop, a device for opening jars; it looks like a cross
between a shoehorn and a bottle opener and costs $5.95. There's also a
jumbo caller ID display ($89.95) that shows a caller's name and phone
number in large type.
"We try to stress products that are stylish, well designed and fun;
nobody wants to face shopping in a medical supply store," Ms. Hallquist
said. "I aspire to be the Williams-Sonoma of products that will help
people stay independent and active."
Fred Brock is an editor at The Times. His column on the approach and
arrival of retirement appears the second Sunday of each month. E-mail:
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