Caregivers find it difficult to shop at retail stores
Survey findings from a recently-released national study, by the Washington, D.C.-based AARP and NORC at the University of Chicago, will send a strong message to America’s businesses. With the graying of America, retail stores must change the way they do business in order to attract customers who provide unpaid family caregiving to their loved ones.
The study Family Caregiver Retail Preferences and Challenges and its survey findings were presented at the AARP Executive Summit, The Price of Caring, on Sept. 10, in Washington, D.C. The summit’s mission was to highlight public- and private-sector solutions to support Americans who care for an older or ill loved one.
In-store shopping is a struggle
While juggling a multitude of caregiving tasks, caregivers say a lack of accommodations for their frail family members is a problem for shopping at retail stores. The study’s findings reveal that in-store shopping is a struggle for one-third of the nation’s 40 million unpaid family caregivers. Many leave their loved ones at home or choose to shop on-line, despite strongly preferring the in-store experience.
A whopping 93% of caregivers surveyed say they shop for the person they care for. Among these caregivers, most report shopping monthly for groceries (87%), basic household items (65%), toiletries (61%), prescription drugs (58%) and other health products (52%) for persons they regularly care for.
“Americans who take care of loved ones are often strapped for time, and many face logistical challenges doing something as simple as going to the grocery store,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, in the Sept. 10 statement announcing the study’s findings. “Retailers can score big with caregivers if they make it easier for them to bring their loved ones along when they shop.”
The AARP survey findings detail simple but important changes retailers should consider to enhance the shopping experience of caregivers. Businesses can provide dedicated parking spots and ample comfortable reserved seating for older shoppers to rest, wider aisles that easily accommodate both wheelchairs and shopping carts, longer store hours, and train their staff to specifically work with caregivers.
The pros and cons of in-store and on-line shopping
The survey findings in the 26-page study reveal that 82% of the caregiver respondents prefer to shop in-store because of the ability to touch the products and they don’t have to wait for a product’s delivery or pay for shipping charges. But 84% say they shop online for ease and convenience, despite preferring an in-store experience. Forty three percent of the respondents say a major reason they leave their loved one at home when shopping is because the store environment is too difficult for the recipients of their care.
More than 56% of the caregiver respondents say that when shopping on behalf of their loved ones they spend at least $50 per month. Forty one percent note they spend more than $250 or more a month when shopping for a loved one.
Businesses must listen to the shopping needs of caregivers
We listen to a lot of caregivers and it seems clear that, regardless of the challenge, the help they want most is for somehow to find a convenient, time-efficient and accommodating means of getting what they need, when they need it,” said AARP state director Kathleen Connell. “In retailing, convenience is a huge competitive advantage these days. But there are aspects of convenience that – for caregivers – go beyond finding what you need on Amazon and having it delivered the next day or two,” says Connell.
“Some caregiver needs are in the ASAP category and they head for brick and mortar retail establishments. Shopping for food and clothes, picking up a prescription or medical supplies, even simple things such as picking up dry cleaning feel like ‘emergencies’ because time is so. Imagine this in the context of being with someone in a walker or wheelchair,” notes Connell.
Connell urges retailers to take this report to heart: “There is an incredible amount of goodwill to be earned if you think about caregivers, as well as those in their care, and give them the consideration that makes their tasks a little easier.”
The AARP survey was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago and is based on a nationally representative survey of 1,127 Americans who provide unpaid care for an adult age 18 or older. The survey was funded by AARP and used AmeriSpeak, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Interviews were conducted between Aug. 1 through 19, 2019, online and using landlines and cell phones. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 4.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, including the design effect. The margin of sampling error may be higher for subgroups.
To read the full report, visit aarp.org/caregivershopping.
For more details about AARP’s Caregiver Shopping study, contact Laura Skufca, AARP Research, Lskufca@aarp.org.
Herb Weiss, LRI’12, is a Pawtucket writer covering aging, health care and medical issues. To purchase Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly, a collection of 79 of his weekly commentaries, go to herbweiss.com.