Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic Marketing: A Global−Managerial Approach, 14/e

Demographic
Dimensions of Global
Consumer Markets

Text © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002

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see all investors as one big market. Rather, he develops different marketing mixes to

meet different needs. Con- sider, for example, the senior citizen group. Americans over 65 control about 70 percent of the country’s investment

assets, but Internet use among this group is low compared to younger people. To better meet the needs of the over-65 group, Schwab

recently supplemented his online services by adding 3,500 new call-in advisors as well as new branch offices in high-growth areas. He has

also added a new division that specializes in estate planning.

Similarly, Schwab has dis- tinct strategies to reach fast-growing ethnic markets.

It’s no accident that branch offices in cities like San Fran- cisco and New York have service reps who speak Chi- nese. Schwab has found that

many Chinese Americans, even long-term residents of the U.S., like to converse with an advisor in their native language—and these customers

are a key target market. While there are only 2.6 million Chi- nese Americans, the median income of their households is about $65,000, compared to

about $40,000 for the typical American household. They also tend to trade stocks two

or three times more often than the average investor, and that boosts commission income.

To attract Chinese Americans who prefer online trading, Schwab has also set up a special website that offers Chi- nese language news services

(www.schwab.com/chinese). A year after its creation this site had attracted five million hits. Recently, Schwab’s daugh- ter, who was an assistant

manager at the Atlanta office, saw a need for the firm to sharpen its focus on women investors. In the past, it appeared that it was enough

to just be “gender neutral.” However, with changing demographic patterns there

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