From The Summer 2004 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

Aging Gracefully With Organics

Older shoppers can optimize their chance for a long life with healthy food choices

Elaine Lipson

Marketers have observed that major life events are often the catalyst for seeking out and buying organic foods. Sometimes those are happy events—becoming a parent for the first time, for example, and wanting to start kids off with a pure and healthy diet.

Other times, life transitions are more daunting. Serious diseases often come with age, leading consumers to review and change their diets and to investigate natural products and organic foods. With this issue’s focus on healthy aging, it’s a great time to recognize older consumers entering the organic market. Whether these customers simply want to optimize their chances for long life or address a serious health concern, educated retailers can play a key role in answering questions and correcting misperceptions about organics.

Science has taught us a lot about the potential risks to infants and children from pesticide exposure. Now we’re also learning more about the toxic load that accumulates as we age, through exposure to pesticides in foods and other chemicals in the environment. This “body burden” may contribute to any number of health conditions and diseases; we’re just beginning to learn about the cumulative effects of multiple chemicals on the body.

While organic foods are not a cure for disease, many of today’s most popular and respected health experts are enthusiastic organic advocates. Andrew Weil, M.D., and Christiane Northrup, M.D., two of today’s best-selling authors on medicine and health, recommend organically grown foods as part of a healthy diet.

What can a retailer do when an older customer wants to know more about organics? Here are some pointers and reminders to educate and inform. We’re all creatures of habit—usually more so as we age—and resistant to things we don’t understand. Make the effort to help interested customers cross those mental barriers to embrace the benefits of organic foods.

First, quell any fear that “eating organic” means giving up favorite foods. It doesn’t mean becoming a vegetarian (unless the customer wants to); it doesn’t mean limiting one’s diet to unfamiliar grains, beans and soy. Old stereotypes of organic and “health” foods as tasteless or unappealing are dying hard, and older customers may be susceptible to decades-old, outdated notions of what organic means.

They’ll be comforted, and perhaps surprised, to learn that just about anything they like to eat is available in an organic version, or made with organic ingredients. The caveat: To improve overall nutrition, your customers will still have to make good choices according to their own dietary needs. Processed organic foods may be high in salt or sugar.

Some older consumers (and younger ones, too) struggle with the higher price point of organic foods. If they’re not ready to go all organic, point out choices that are responsive to their personal concerns and values, whether they worry about pesticides on fruits and vegetables, about hormones and antibiotics in meat and dairy, or they oppose genetically modified organisms in soy or are advocates of sustainability. Or perhaps they just want a diet that feels cleaner and healthier, with a focus on whole foods—fruits, vegetables, grains and lean protein. By periodically offering store tours built around organic choices, you can ensure that your customers know what’s available and what’s new.

Demos, taste tests and coupons encourage customers of all ages to try new things. Cooking classes and punch cards that earn benefits for repeat buyers can also help customers who are new to organic get more comfortable. A hands-on demonstration on how to use bulk bins can help those new to bulk buying, as well as those with price concerns.

Be sure your store has a good basic brochure about organic foods. It should explain what organic means and how it differs from “natural” and other eco-labels; what “certified organic” means and how certification protects consumers as well as farmers; the benefits of organic agriculture to the environment; and a list of resources to learn more about organics.

Seasonal foods, as well as locally and regionally grown foods, appeal to many older consumers who may remember times when local farms and foods were not such an exotic concept. Large chain retailers often don’t have systems in place to work with local growers and producers. Why not begin this year to develop those relationships? It means working on a smaller scale, but can help set your store apart as a good neighbor and a believer in good food.

If that’s not feasible, work with a local farmers’ market or community-supported agriculture program to cross-market your store with recipes or coupons, or by sponsoring special events. Show support for sustainable agriculture in your community. In the end, it’s more likely to boost your image and your sales than cut into profits.

Besides, your local farmers may well be older customers themselves. New data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture shows that the mean age of farmers is about 55 years. Older women are becoming a more powerful force as farm owners, either by inheriting land or making midlife transitions to a farming lifestyle. They may be your customers or even vendors, if you’re seeking locally produced foods.

Retailers can play an important role in introducing older consumers to healthy foods and helping them feel comfortable buying products and brands that are new to them. We’re all aging, but with healthy habits and a willingness to embrace the new, getting older doesn’t have to mean sacrificing vitality or well being.

Elaine Lipson (emlipson@aol.com) is a writer, editor and consultant on organic foods and natural health, and the author of The Organic Foods Sourcebook (McGraw-Hill Contemporary, 2001).