Marketing analysis of the prerequisites for the development of consumer potential of the Russian segment of elderly consumers

The article deals with the problem of ageing of population and its potential impact on the development of the commodity and services market for elderly consumers. The author identifies the problem of underestimating the consumer potential of the Russian segment of elderly consumers and specifies the factors that limit its development, such as low paying capacity and lack of many needs, so in the author's opinion these stereotyped views restrict the marketing activity of Russian business in the analyzed segment. Based on the analysis of statistical data it's proved that elderly consumers are not the neediest group of the Russian society. Moreover, the analysis of the earnings structure of elderly Russians is conducted. In the course of this analysis it's found out that the main sources of livelihood of elderly citizens of the Russian Federation are pension, labour activity, and farm households. Despite the overall decrease in the level of income of senior citizens connected with the retirement, the solvency can be maintained at the same level due to savings. The author offers the rational and compensatory model of behaviour of retired consumers. This model allows justifying the change of needs in terms of decreasing income and it can be used to describe the consumer behavior of other age groups of consumers under similar conditions. On the whole, it's proved in the article that by increasing the proportion of the elderly population in the midst of a decline in the number of middle-aged citizens, changes of the social role of the elderly population, and other factors in the near future we should expect the growth of consumer potential of the Russian segment of elderly consumers, which in turn will create conditions for the development of commodity and services markets for this segment and will provide the prerequisites for expanding the upper limits of the target audience of marketing in different business areas.